Infinity
by MonsterSlut
Summary: Forced into exile for theft and murder committed by a will other than her own, Astrid of Asgard finds herself trapped on earth. One random act of kindness assures that her new life will be far from obscure. Astrid finds herself drawn in to the wars of men and starts to questions whether Asgard is truly her home or if earth is truly where she belongs.
1. Prologue

**Hello lovelies, this is my first Marvel fan fiction and inspired by the Infinity Gauntlet six-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics from July to December in 1991. **

**It will cover whole movies or some events from:**

**Captain America - The First Avenger**

**Iron Man**

**Thor**

**The Avengers**

**Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D**

**Thor 2**

**If all goes well with the first section regarding Captain America I might fill in the gap of time with a couple of X-Men stories, but only if you my readers, think the story is worth it.**

**Please let me know what you think. **

**xxx**

* * *

**Prologue**

The first thing I remembered were those four words.

_Liar._

_Thief. _

_Traitor._

_Murderer. _

In my head I can hear those words repeated over and over again, repeated like a mantra that will never leave me. I can still feel the blood on my hands and hear the clanging of the dagger as it hits the golden floor beneath my feet.

_Liar. _

_Thief. _

_Traitor. _

_Murderer._

My ears ring at the sound of those words, sending shivers down my spine that echo throughout my body. I never wanted to be like this. Used. Manipulated. Forced. In that moment my actions were not my own but there was no evidence to the contrary. If I ever returned, only death waited for me. No friends, no family, all would turn their back on me.

Every time I try to remember what had happened to me leading up the betrayal, everything starts to become fuzzy and I find myself overwhelmed with the feeling of drowning. I go to bed most nights and play it over and over again in my mind, trying to figure it out. I can only remember bits and piece of the days before, the images come and go in flashes through my mind. I remember holding it in my hand, the dagger and the gauntlet, I remember taking it from the vault and fleeing from the palace to someone who was waiting for me.

Then everything grows fuzzy again.

_Liar. _

_Thief. _

_Traitor. _

_Murderer._

Those were the first words I heard when I woke up, lying in the middle of a grass field looking at the blue sky above me. There was a steady breeze blowing and a slight chill to the air. I rubbed my head, my hands were sticky with blood and tangled up in my hair. The moment I saw the blood I panicked and started searching myself for wounds but I was unable to find any.

If the blood was not mine than who's blood was it?

This is the same question I have asked myself every day since the day I woke up in this cursed place.

_Liar. _

_Thief. _

_Traitor. _

_Murderer._

There is always that voice in the back of my head…whispering to me…when it comes to me, everything becomes fuzzy and days later I find myself someplace I do not know, covered in dirt and grime and sometimes blood. I trudge back home and the people I live in the building with complain about a ruckus that had come from my apartment days before. This is one of the reasons I never hold down a job or a place for very long.

I stared at myself in the mirror of my small two bedroom apartment and sighed at the image that stared back at me. At home I had been beautiful, considered one of the many beautiful warrior maidens to have ever walked the Halls of Asgard but here I was just a shadow of my former self. Pale skin, dark rings under my dull green eyes, my dark red hair used to flow freely around me like its own cloak but now it was always pulled back in a tight bun to hide whatever darkness was affecting me…I covered the image of my face with my hand and shook my head.

"It's not fair," I whispered. "I don't even remember why I'm here…"

When I first came here, I refused to stay in the one place for too long in case they came after me but after time I eventually settled down in one city-New York. New York was a beautiful city, a busy city, a large city…large enough to hide in until I had to move on again.

Reluctantly, I fixed the last button of my uniform up and moved my eyes away from the image that stared back at me so that I was able to finish getting ready for work. Today I was feeling incredibly uneasy and the voice in the back of my head was very active, whispering that something had been found…something that had been lost a very long time ago. I tried to shake the feeling off and ignore it as I left my apartment.

Despite the circumstances of my arrival here, I found that this planet certainly had its charms. Once such a charm was a small place that humans called a bakery where I could buy bread and some small desert items for lunch and dinner during the day. It was owned by a charming old couple who would occasionally throw in some extra puddings and continually introduce me to their son. I was an Asgardian, our life spans are different than a human's which meant that even though I was stuck here, there was no way I would be able to form any kind of intimate relationship with anyone. I had only been stuck here for a small number of years but the fact that I did not age would be noticeable to anyone after a period of time.

After stopping off at the bakery and a brief chat to the owners about their son I continued on. I had almost come to the grocery store where I worked when a small explosion rocked the street. The ground beneath us shook, knocking items off the shelves and people to the ground. When my employer helped me to my feet, I looked around, searching for the source of the explosion. I, like many others, knew that America, my adopted home country, was at war with Germany, a nation who wanted to destroy what they considered impure but I had not thought that the war was here already.

"Astrid, are you alright?" my employer inquired, brushing off the dust from my coat.

I nodded. "Yes, David, I am fine…is that the antique store? All-father I hope Mrs Walker is alright."

"I'll call the police," he answered. "You and Hank go over to see if Hilda is alright."

The store owner was referring to Hank Lawson, he had worked her longer than I had and was responsible for stocking shelves where I helped serve and work on the accounting books. When I first started I knew nothing about the job but David was impressed with my ability to learn quickly so he hired me and had his wife Laura teach me what I was missing. I was struggling to get the job done but Laura was just as patient with me as my mother had been.

I took my coat off and together with Hank, we ran across the road to the antique store. No sooner than Hank had pulled open the ruined door, the sound of gunfire rang out from the store. "Hank?" I called out, shaking my friend when he stopped moving. "Hank?"

Hank stumbled back a little and collapsed on the ground, blood soaking through the apron he was wearing. I stared at the fallen form of my friend and suddenly was pushed aside by a man in a grey checker suit who fired several shots back at me and the store. The fall to the ground didn't hurt but, they never do, it was more shock than it was painful. Moments later a woman came out of the antique store dressed in a full military outfit and brandishing a gun, I watched her stand in the middle of the road and aim at a car speeding towards her. She wasn't worried about getting hit as she fired off several rounds.

I could barely believe what was happening in front of my eyes. The city had always been peaceful but now the war was here.

Then that's when I met him.

I picked myself up and a second man pushed past me. I met his deep blue eyes for only a moment and I ceased up.

"Sorry," he grunted politely before he took off.

I leant up against the frame and looked down at my own dress which suddenly felt warm and wet. Hank hadn't been the only one to get shot. "Oh no…" I whispered, slipping down the wall. "Help…" the word slipped out of my mouth as the woman with the gun came over. She shouted out for help…I caught a name…it was Peggy…and that was the last thing that I heard.


	2. Captain America Part 1

**++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliate charcaters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**Captain America Part 1**

There was a soft breeze blowing through the room, bringing in with it the smells and sounds of the city outside. The roof above me was pale white in colour and totally bare apart from the light that was shining straight into my eyes. The light had been the first thing I saw when I woke up feeling incredibly groggy and fuzzy about what had just happened. At first I panicked, thinking I'd had another blackout but then I remembered the explosion and the woman and the man with the blue eyes. With every intention of leaving, I threw the coarse white sheets aside and tried to pull myself out of bed like I did every morning-only problem was someone had handcuffed me to the frame of the bed. "What in the name of Odin?" I whispered, tugging at the metal gently.

"That's in case you decide to leave us young lady," I was suddenly warned. Standing in the doorway to my little room was an American in full military dress. The name on his badge said Philips. "Colonel Chest Philips, United States Army. And you are?"

"Astrid," I answered him. "My…my name I Astrid. Why can't I leave?"

"Well for one, you just got shot," Colonel Phillips shrugged. "And the-the good doctor says you ain't human. Now I don't care for the exact specifics, all I care about is whether you're a threat to this country or not."

"Not human?" I laughed nervously. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"We did some digging on you," Philips answered. "You don't exist. Been to your apartment-nothing there is older than a couple years which makes me believe that you're a spy, a German spy."  
"I'm no spy," I objected, starting to panic.  
"I'm hearing a lot of 'I'm not' as opposed to the 'I am' that I want to hear," he retorted. There was no way he was going to give up. "Astrid Ellis didn't exist until two years ago, you're the same age as all the stuff in your apartment is. You're a spy."  
"I'm no spy!" I shouted. The light above my head flickered and released a loud buzzing sound before it exploded in rain of glass all over my head.

"Well if you're no spy, what are you?" inquired a second voice. "That was interesting." The owner of this voice certainly wasn't a soldier, I knew soldiers and this man was no soldier. He was the same height as Phillips, if not a little taller and he was holding a file in his hands. He smiled at me unlike Phillips. "Howard Stark, Miss Ellis, nice to meet you under the circumstances." He held some kind of hand held device close to me and it made some kind of whirling sound. "Now that is interesting."

"You're not military," I pointed out, looking at the device. "What are you doing? What is that?"

"It's a Wattmeter," Howard answered. "It measures electric power-when they were operating on you, the power kept on going out. That added with the amount of anaesthetic it took to keep you under either mean's you're hiding an EMP somewhere or your some kind of superhuman." He studied me with his deep brown eyes and smiled. "I am interested to find out." The technical term was Electrokinesis, each child in my family was born with the ability to manipulate and generate electrical currents. It tended to be stronger in the women than it was in the men. Admittedly I was more interested in fighting with the Warrior's Three than learning the ability which meant that now when I was stressed or nervous I would burn out anything with an electrical current.

"I'm keeping two MP's on her at all times," Phillip's announced. I had almost forgotten that he was in fact in the room at all.

"I'll be fine, Colonel," Howard smirked, he winked at me then he turned to the colonel. "I don't consider Miss Ellis to be much of a threat, besides, Captain Rogers wants to know if she's alright and wants to come pay her a visit."

"Make's sense," Phillips shrugged, leaning forward to un-cuff me. "Keep the science experiments together. The guard stays. Don't get too attached Stark, girl's government property."

I glared at him when he turned on his heels and left. "The nerve," I growled under my breath, rubbing my wrist. "I'm not a science experiment."

"But you're not human," Howard pointed out. He sat the Wattmeter on the table then opened the file he was holding. "I admit that this opportunity is too fascinating to pass up, a chance to study a real superhuman-and don't say you're not. I bet if I got the nurse in here to check your dressing your wounds would be all healed-shall I call the nurse in?"

I breathed out a sigh of defeat. "No, Mr Stark."

"Howard," he corrected me. "Call me Howard, Miss Ellis."

"Than in that case," I spoke, "call me Astrid."

"Astrid," he smiled. "Nice name, Astrid. Just a quick couple of questions than I'll bring Captain Rogers in to say hello." Howard cleared his throat and looked through the file for a couple of minutes than looked at me. The questions were pretty basic, I had answered them before and was an expert at relaying them over and over again until I genially believed what I was saying was true. I was born in San Francisco, not Asgard, my mother was a nurse not a warrior, my father was a teacher, not the captain of the guard. It was easy to convince me but someone who was trying to spot the lie was harder. "Were you aware that you've got this mark on your body?" he questioned, holding up a rough sketch of two circles joined side-by-side with a line diagonally through the centre. "It's in a very inconspicuous place-your lower back."

I stared at the drawing. "The Mark of Infinity?" I whispered. I snatched the paper off Howard and paused as tried to remember what my grandfather had told me years ago when I was just a child. The Mark of Infinity represented the Infinity Gauntlet and the stones used to power the glove. It was a holy mark, branded upon those who were involved in the search for the Infinity Stones. The cross through the mark represented corruption and outside influence, a cross through the mark meant that a warrior had been corrupted. I laughed internally, it was just a children's story, nothing more…it had to be.

"What's the Mark of Infinity?" Howard questioned.

I glanced at him to find that he was writing something down. "Ah-it's nothing, really." I handed him the paper back and managed to walk over to the window for a look outside. "Can we continue this outside?" I inquired. "I need some fresh air."

Howard sighed. "Sure-you should go clean up and we'll talk outside." He pointed to the floor beside the bed where a bag was sitting. "There's clothes in there. I'll wait."

I grabbed the bag and slipped into the bathroom. My reflection stared back at me, there was a little more colour in my skin but not as much as there should be but there was a little more colour. Several strands of my hair were pulled up into the air like there was a static charge. It was coming from me. I looked back into the mirror to find that my image was smirking at me.

_Find the stone…_it whispered in my mind. _Find the stone. Find the stone. Find the stone._

"Find the stone," I repeated.

Find the stone?

I shook my head.

No, the stone must stay hidden…the infinity Stones can never be in the same place with each other…that amount of power cannot be contained. Whoever had the Infinity Gauntlet also had one of the stones, one that had been used on me.

So the question was which stone and why me?


	3. Captain America Part 2

**++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**Captain America Part 2**

Despite the first opinion I had formed on Captain Steve Rogers, I found myself taking back everything I had originally thought. At first I had seen one of those guys that was always hitting on me and using his looks to win over the girls but after having lunch with him and Howard, I found Steve was the exact opposite. The captain actually reminded me somewhat of my older brother.

After Captain Rogers had left in the afternoon, Howard sat down and spoke to me about what exactly Colonel Philips had meant about government property. I didn't technically belong to the government, more like I had been signed into the custody of the Strategic Scientific Reserve or the SSR. Philips had told Howard that he wanted him to report back on everything I did. He and his superiors wanted to know everything about me and according to Howard, he was the best chance of me not being killed and harvested.

I didn't give myself too much time to dwell on those thoughts though. Whoever had used me to get the Infinity Gauntlet also had in their possession one of the Infinity Stones. Which one I was unable to figure out-I should have paid more attention to my grandfather's stories when I was a child. I was dividing my time between sessions with Howard where he would take blood, measure the electrical signals I was giving off and throw small tasks at me. Each time he asked me where I had gotten my abilities from I could only lie and say I wasn't truly sure.

I doubt they would have taken it well if I'd told them that I was from another universe.

I will admit that now that the cat was partially out of the bag it was easier to move around a lot more. Howard would encourage me to use my abilities so he could test the range of them along with possible military applications. He was working on something that would channel my abilities into a single focused attack and not all over the place. The only problem was that only days after suggesting it, Philips arrived with news that the SSR had been re-tasked to London, he had wanted me to stay behind but after an hour long argument between him and Howard, one of the military police was ordered to take me back to my apartment so I could pack some stuff to go with Howard.

There would never be another opportunity like this again…or so the voice told me.

The MP drove me back to my apartment, as we weaved in and out of rush hour traffic, I could feel my reality slipping away from me. The familiar feeling of drowning and burning all at the same time was rushing through me…

* * *

_"Are you alright miss?"_

_"Ma'am?"_

_"Pull over!"_

_"Something's wrong!"_

_Snap!_

_I felt him go limp in her hands before I swung around to fire a bolt of electricity at the soldier who held his sidearm at her. Crowds of people screamed and ran in various directions away from her as I made her walk towards the two dead soldiers and knelt down to pick up the gun. It was primitive at best but I was sure that she would need it. Stepping over the soldier's body, I turned her in the direction of her apartment to get the bag that was hidden in the bottom of the cupboard. _

_She wasn't even aware that she had it. If she had it would be easier for her to fight me and this would be harder to accomplish. I watched her in the either in front of me-this was a double edge sword. She was weak-willed enough to manipulate but strong enough to break free and if she did than the stone would be useless against her. Warriors freed from the influence were hard, if not impossible, to get back under control. I knew that forcing her to kill that Asgardian prince had been a bad idea, when she had done it I thought that I was in need of a new toy but when I found I could still influence her I decided to keep her but at a cost._

_She was already aware of a presence in her mind. The amount of time I could spend pushing her in the right direction was getting less and less with each trip. I leant forward and brushed the surface of the either, momentarily disrupting the image. _

_"Soon my dear…soon…"I whispered._

_I waved my hand over the either and the link was cut…_

* * *

The first thing I noticed when I opened my mouth was the fact that it was now full of dirt. I sat up spitting the damp earth out and trying to get rid of it from around my mouth. As I struggled to get rid of the dirt it didn't take too long for me to realise that I wasn't in New York any more.

"Oh no," I whispered when the images came flooding back. I cringed as the scent of burnt flesh hit my senses. "Those poor soldiers," I whispered, tears coming to my eyes. I choked back a strangled sob and picked myself up off the ground and brushed my hands off on my pants. "Where the hell am I this time?" I grumbled.

On the ground in the dirt beside me was a duffel bag, I searched it to find there was several items of clothing, a gun-I paused and pulled a dagger out of the bag. It was roughly the length of my arm with a golden hilt imbedded with jewels of different shapes and sizes that seemed to have a shine to them. I put that back after a cold shiver ran down my spine and pulled out a map.

It was a map of Italy.

I shoved the map back in the bag as I set off. As usual I'd need to find a town and then I could get back home. "NO!" I shouted out a loud. "No…I can't go home…"

First civilisation, then worry about what I would do after, I thought to myself. I hadn't even been walking for a mile before I came across something I never expected to see-it was the aftermath of a large fight.

There were bloodied bodies strew all over the place. I could see Americans, British and German bodies littering the field. It was clear that the Allies had not won. I stepped backwards and continued until I hit something solid. When I turned, behind me stood two men wearing complete black uniforms with a gas mask to complete the job.

He aimed his rifle at me and I threw my bag at him before I kicked him in the side of the knee. A distinct crack told me that I had broken it as he fell. I snatched his rifle away and hit him in the face with it than I shot him.

"_Don't move!_"

I heard the squeaking sound of tires and to my left I could see a tank with its sights aimed at me. On the tank was a curious symbol, it was a skull with tentacles like an octopus. On closer inspection the men were all wearing them. I dropped the gun as I fell to my knees and put my hands behind my head. I was good, but not tank fighting good.

A soldier grabbed me by the scruff of my hair and dragged me over to where the prisoners were being kept. He threw me across the dirt and the only reason I stopped was because I collided with someone.

"Are you alright?" I was asked.

"Getting real tired of people asking me that because I'm a woman," I growled at the POW.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

I sighed. "No-I'm sorry." I rubbed my head. "Astrid Ellis," I introduced myself.

"Sergeant James Barnes," he answered. "Friends call me Bucky. What's brings you to Azzano, Astrid?"

"I don't know yet," I whispered. "Where are they taking us?" I asked him as everyone was ordered to their feet.

Bucky's face grew dark. "Heard rumours, nothing substantial but I hear that no one returns."

"From where?" I asked.

"From Hell."


	4. Captain America Part 3

**++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**Captain America Part 3**

The sight of a woman arriving at the factory sparked a series of shouts and cat calls from the various prisoners that were being kept in the cells. A normal woman would have blushed and most likely been revolted by some of the suggestions been thrown my way but these I had heard before and not just on Earth.

Bucky and I had been thrown into the same cell which gave us time to trade information. He told me about everything that was going on here and I told him what was happening at home. It wasn't much but the look on his face when I mentioned home was worth it. The prisoners that had been here before us told us about the work that the German's were doing and how no one lasted more than a week here before they died. No one ever came out alive from this place.

"That's comforting," I mumbled under my breath.

"You can say that again," Bucky frowned. He looked around. "I'm sure the escape plan has been done to death but we need to get out of here. Find a way to let the soldiers go-we'd have a small army."

"Yes because that worked so well before," I reminded him. "You had a small army and you still got your butt kicked."

Bucky chuckled. "I like you."

"I'm a glass is half full kinda gal," I shrugged. Bucky and I stopped chatting as the door at the end of the cells opened up. An older, pudgy looking man wearing a tweed jacket and a bow tie hurried on down the cells, looking in each cell and eventually stopping in front of our cell. He looked over me and Bucky and whispered something to the soldiers who were with him. "Fraulein," he bowed slightly addressing me. "I do apologise for the manner in which you have been brought here…Herr Schmidt would like to see you."

"Tell Herr Schmidt I respectfully decline his offer," I replied. "I'd rather stay here."

"Take her to Herr Schmidt," he ordered the guards. I jumped to my feet and in an act of wasted chivalry, Bucky jumped in front of me. "And him to my lab."

"Idiot," I hissed at Bucky. "I don't need you to protect me-I'm not a flower." The guard pushed Bucky aside and made a grab for me, the moment he put his hands on me was the last moment of his life. The bolt of electricity swept through his body and exited his left hand before bouncing harmlessly off the concrete ground. I pushed his body backwards and waved the soldiers towards me.

A rifle was aimed directly at my head.

"I will not hesitate to have you shot," he growled at me. "Or the friend that I assume you have made," he stated, pointing at Bucky.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, have it your way for now." I stepped over the body of the dead soldier very nonchalantly and followed the guard and the man with the bow tie away from the cells. I was taken across the floor of some kind of assembly room and over to a lift where we were carried up into an office. It was immaculately well decorated with books and art lining the walls and shelves. There was a man sitting behind a large redwood desk reading a book and in front of him sat the dagger that was in my duffel.

"Take a seat, fraulein," I was instructed.

I sat down with a frown. "What are you doing with my knife?" I asked him.

"There is a story behind this knife," he told me, lifting the knife up in one hand whilst he continued looking through the book. "It's called the _Tonn Dragon Er_ which is Icelandic for Dragon's Tooth. It's said to have the ability to absorb raw power-where did you find it?"

"It's mine." The words spilt out of my mouth but it wasn't me saying it.

"My name, fraulein, is Johann Schmidt," he advised me when he sat the book down. He got to his feet and came around the desk so that he was in front of me. "And you, despite being American, are the picture of Aryan perfection. Blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin…it seems our enemies across the sea are not without their own merits of perfection. What is your name?"

"Astrid," I answered. "Astrid Ellis." My eyes flickered over to the dagger sitting on the desk. "What do you want with my dagger?"

"My books tell me that the dagger is one of several Infinity Items supposedly spread across the known world," Schmidt advised me. "It is said that the bearer of this dagger is supposedly a warrior of Infinity and carries the mark of Infinity. Do you carry the mark? Are you a guardian? A soldier?"

"N-n-neither," I stammered. "I'm neither. I don't know how I got here…please I just want to go home."

Schmidt leant in so that he could whisper in my ear. "You're lying, fraulein Ellis." He put his hand on my shoulder and gripped it tightly. "The eyes never lie." Schmidt wrapped his hand around my throat and lifted my entire body out of the chair with ease.

I grasped at his hands but they would not give so I grabbed each side of his head and unleashed as much of the built up energy I had in reserve. All he did was laugh at me and after what seemed like a life time, he threw me across the room into one of his bookshelves. I hit the shelf with an almighty thud and fell to the floor, both books and wood coming down on top of me. I suddenly found myself buried by books but only for a few seconds. Someone grabbed the collar of my shirt and dragged me out-Schmidt dragged me over to his desk and slammed my head against the wood several times until I was dazed-this man was as strong as I was-if not stronger. Carefully he reached over and grabbed the dagger before he used the tip of the blade to cut through the back of my jacket and shirt.

"And there we have it, fraulein Ellis," Schmidt smirked, releasing me. "The Mark of Infinity. You're here for the Tesseract…it belongs to me. The Jewel of Odin's treasure room in mine and now, so are you."

I glared at him as I went over what he had just said in my mind. The Tesseract...everyone on Asgard knew it under another name-the Space Stone, one of the six Infinity Gems. I needed to get my hands on that stone!

He laughed. "Kitty has claws," he smirked. "Take her to the lab and have her prepared for transport with the Tesseract," Schmidt ordered. "Hail Hydra!" he shouted.

"Hail Hydra!"

Schmidt pushed me off the ruined desk and onto the floor.

I picked myself up and stared at the man…no, that wasn't a man anymore…I could sense it...he was mad…if the Tesseract was in the hands of a mad man someone needed to stop it and soon.


	5. Captain America Part 4

**++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**Captain America Part 4**

It didn't take me long to get lost in the maze of corridors in the warehouse but I soon found myself in a laboratory that was close to the cells. Words were exchanged with a doctor and he immediately went to work on getting a sedative together whilst I was strapped down to a table. I could only curse myself for losing the dagger, why, I did not know, but there was a voice inside my head cursing me for losing it.

I had to have been left lying there for a couple of hours as the doctor tried to sedate me with several different solutions but none were as affective as they liked. I'd go under for a couple of minutes than I'd be as alert and awake like I'd just had a good night sleep.

From outside the laboratory we could hear the sounds of shouting guards and prisoners. This, I assumed, was normal…what wasn't normal was the fact that the prisoners were getting louder than the guards. Whoever was out the front of the laboratory doors started to shout and scream only to be cut off. I tried to sit up but the straps were stopping me. "Damn it!" I shouted.

The doctor ignored me and walked uneasily over to the doors. One of the heavy doors hit him in the face, knocking him to the ground followed by a man wearing a blue suit with the American Flag plastered over him.

I stared at him and her stared at me. "Allfather…Steve is that you?" I gasped.

"Astrid?" Steve balked when he saw me. "Astrid what are you doing here?" he demanded to know when he rushed over to untie me. "Philips has men looking for you in Amercia…how did you even get here?"

"I thought it would be a nice place for a holiday," I replied. I pulled off the ruined remains of my shirt and threw them in the trash, Steve gasped and turned his back as I searched for something to put on. "They took a friend of mine," I told him when I found the cupboard where the doctor kept his spare clothes. Using a scalpel, I cut the bottom of the shirt off so it wasn't too long than rolled up the sleeve. "He's in a lab with some little fat man."

"Just so happens I'm looking for a friend of mine as well," Steve replied. The two of us came out of the laboratory and looked up and down the hallway. "Did you see him? His name is Sergeant James Barnes."

"Oh Bucky?" I inquired.

Steve rolled his eyes. "Yes, Bucky. I take it that's the friend you were talking about?"

I nodded.

"The prisoners said there was an isolation ward around here somewhere," Steve relayed to me, searching every room.

"Screw it," I mumbled. "BUCKY!" I shouted.

"Shh," Steve hissed at me as the two of us came around the corner. We stopped and stared at the figure at the end of the hallway. It was the little scientist who had taken me to Schmidt.

"Hey!" I shouted at him.

He looked at the two of us in terror and took off at a run.

I ran away from Steve and into the room, lying tied to a similar bench was Bucky. "Allfather," I whispered. "Steve, in here!"

Steve came in behind me.

"Sergeant 32557…Barnes…" he mumbled.

"Oh my god!" gasped Steve. He pushed past me and rushed to his friend's side.

"Is that-?" Bucky mumbled when he saw Steve in front of him.

"It's me, Steve," Steve nodded.

"Steve…Steve…Steve," he trailed off.

"Come on!" Steve unbuckled the straps that held his friend down and helped him to his feet. "I thought you were dead."

"I thought you were smaller," Bucky laughed. "What happened to you?"

"I joined the army," Steve retorted.

"Did it hurt?" Bucky inquired.

"A little," Steve shrugged.

"Is it permanent?" he asked as we walked.

"So far," Steve replied.

"Give me the rifle," I ordered Steve, catching both their attention.

"I can handle it Astrid," Steve argued as we carried on looking for an exit. The sounds of fighting were prominent outside as well as inside. Explosions rocked through the warehouse, almost knocking us all to the ground.

"I only asked cause I though the two of you would want to have a cup of coffee and maybe get your nails done at the salon," I shrugged, grabbing the wall to keep me standing.

"She's funny," Bucky chuckled. "When we get back I'm gonna take you out for dancing."

"Maybe we should concentrate on getting out of here," Steve suggested.

"I agree." Another explosion rocked through the warehouse, cutting off our escape. The only way it appeared was up. If we could get up to the roof it would be easy to climb down the side of the building…Steve had the same idea. Steve went through first with Bucky and I came up the rear. Suddenly the two men in front of me came to a stop and I hit Steve-it was like hitting a brick wall.

"Captain America!" Schmidt shouted, drawing in my attention. He stood at the opposite side of a gangway staring us down, the pudgy little man was holding both my dagger and some kind of container with the jewel I was after. "How exciting! I am a great fan of your films!" He smirked. "So Doctor Erskine manager it after all." Schmidt smirked. "Not exactly an improvement but, still…impressive."

Steve made Bucky keep a hold of the rail and he walked carefully towards Schmidt. "You got no idea!" he declared right before he punched him.

Schmidt caught his fist and punched him right back. "Haven't I?" he asked as the captain was thrown backwards. "No matter what lies Erskine told you, you see, I was his greatest success!"

The three of us watched in horror as Schmidt started to peal his own face off, revealing the red skull that was underneath.

"You don't have one of those, do you?" Bucky gasped.

Steve shook his head.

"You are deluded, captain," Schmidt teased. "You pretend to be a simple soldier, but in reality you are just afraid to admit that we have left humanity behind! Without fear!" The bridge broke up between the two, separating them.

"Then how come you're running?" Steve asked.

Schmidt smirked. "I'd be careful if I were you, captain. Be careful of the company of gods you keep with you." He turned his gaze to me. "I'll be seeing you again, Asgardian. It will be an honour to add you to my collection."

"What does he mean by that?" Bucky whispered, looking up at me.

"We need to figure out another way out of here," I answered.

"You first," Steve ordered me. "You're lighter than both me and Bucky."

I helped Steve get Bucky to his feet and then I started climbing up and over. I made it to the other side easily and watched as Bucky came over not as easily as I did. "Come on!" I shouted at him. "You can take me out to dinner when we get back, yeah? Come on!"

Bucky grinned but kept silent as he climbed over.

When his feet hit the ground, the beams collapsed behind him.

"Steve!" we both shouted.

"Astrid there has to be a rope or something!" Bucky yelled, looking at his friend.

"Just go!" Steve yelled, looking around. "Take Astrid and get out of here!"

"NO!" we both yelled. "NOT WITHOUT YOU!"

We watched as Steve walked back about as far as he good tan took a running leap into the fiery pit. If it wasn't for Bucky, Steve would have missed, but the soldier reached out and grabbed Steve's arm as he fell.

I reached down and grabbed Steve's other hand, helping pull him up.

"We have to get out of here," Steve pointed out.

"Well thank you captain obvious," Bucky groaned.

"Ladies first," Steve said, motioning for me to go first.

"Steve, when we get out of here, we need to talk about this flower business," I warned him, taking the lead.

But first we had to get out of the building.


	6. Captain America Part 5

**++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**Captain America Part 5**

The walk back to the allied camp took a couple days with all the wounded soldiers that were with us. Unfortunately there were more wounded than there were more wounded than there were capable men but with the tanks and trucks that had been stolen, it made transporting them easy. Steve, the ever noble soldier and gentlemen, had refused to give me a gun at first but after killing a number of Nazi soldiers back at the factory and words from Bucky, he gave me a rifle but not before giving me quick instructions on how to use it. Back on Asgard I was a warrior maiden, not just a maiden. This treating me like I was fragile was starting to get slightly on my nerves. Steve may have been genetically enhanced supersoldier but I was a soldier too.

When we arrived at the camp, Steve, Bucky and I approached Colonel Philips and Peggy who were waiting and watching us with complete shock.

"I'd like to surrender myself for disciplinary action," Steve announced, stopping at a standstill.

Philips turned to Peggy and raised an eyebrow. "Faith huh?" he asked. He came back around and stared at me. "Would you like to explain what in god's name is she doing here? I've got men looking all over the country for you, Miss Ellis."

"Well I'm not your problem," I told him. "Johann Schmidt is your problem. He's come across a weapon of my people. Bucky can I have the rifle?" Bucky handed me the rifle in his hands and I fired it at a tree, completely disintegrating it.

"What in god's name is that?" Philips jumped.

"Schmidt has a whole army outfitted with weapons like this," Steve answered, backing me up. "Tanks too. I think you should listen to Astrid, she knows what made it."

"It's called the Tesseract," I explained, following Philips and Peggy away from the watching soldiers. "And it belongs to my people but it was hidden here thousands of years ago to keep it away from those who would use it wrongly. Is Howard here? He needs to see this, maybe find a way to neutralize the weapons. Track the Tesseract. "

"And Schmidt has it?" Philips growled. "And what the hell do you mean by my people? You said you were human, didn't you?"

I paused. "I lied. I come from a placed called Asgard."

"Asgard?" Philips laughed. "You're talking Norse Gods, Thor, Odin, Loki, that kind of Asgard. There really is something wrong with you, isn't there?"

I ignored him. "Schmidt has something of mine, a dagger. It's called the _Tonn Dragon Er_ or Dragon's Tooth. It can absorb raw power. If you can get me to that dagger I should be able to neutralize the effects of the Tesseract."

"I ain't getting you anything apart from a cell whilst you tell me why you killed two of my men," Philips retorted. He signalled to the MP's than pointed at me.

"Wait!" I pleaded. "I'm not lying! I come from Asgard and I'm a warrior. The Asgardian's have been around for millions of years…Colonel Philips please-there are five other Infinity Stones out there and if Schmidt knows about the Tesseract he will most likely stop at nothing to get the rest including destroying this world and all the people in it."

"You still killed two of my men," Philips pointed out.

"Well by human standards I'm a couple hundred years old so if you're gonna try and shoot me, shoot me," I replied, "I doubt it will do any good. But if you're not, then maybe, just maybe, we can find that damn stone." I folded my arms, "anyway I can get myself something to wear that's not covered in mud?"

Philips sighed. "Fine, Miss Ellis. For now I will trust you but any wrong moves and I will have you shot, useful or not."

I breathed out a sigh of relief and turned to face both Steve and Bucky. "What?"

"So you look human," Bucky frowned.

"You look Asgardian," I corrected. "And yes, before you ask, it all works the same, Bucky."

"Why are you here?" Steve asked me.

I shook my head. "I can't tell you-I am sorry Steve." Like I wanted to tell them I was in exile because I murdered someone.

"Captain Rogers, we'll put a team together to stop Schmidt," Philips assured him. "I want you to keep an eye on Miss Ellis," he declared, pointing at me. "See if we can't sort this problem out. You're all dismissed."

"I'm starving," I announced when the three of us stepped out of the tent. "Let's get some food!"

* * *

_She's lost the dagger!_

_How can she have lost the dagger?_

_That man in the red skull knows more than he should and she should not know what the dagger does…it can be potentially deadly for us if she figures it out. I leant back and stared at the images before me, she was sitting in some kind of temporary establishment eating and flicking small round green objects off her metal plate at the soldier they had rescued. Her heart rate and chemical response assured me of one thing-she liked him. _

_This wouldn't affect the plan but it would be an annoyance. _

_The Tesseract was so far in reach, all the others were busy with their own assignments so sending in another soldier wasn't worth the risk. I curled my fists up and hit the table in front of me. This should be done by now! _

_Patience was certainly not a virtue I possessed. _

_Soon…soon we would have the Tesseract which meant that we would have two out of six stones. Everything was coming along nicely._

* * *

"I said Astrid, are you okay?" Bucky questioned again as we in the back of the train, making our way into London.

"Huh?" I frowned, looking at him in a kind of daze. "Um-yeah, sorry Bucky...where's Steve?" I asked, noticing the remarked lack of tall and muscular.

"Went to get something to eat," Bucky spoke, reminding me. "Are you ok? You seem a little out of it."

"Just tired is all," I lied, slipping down slightly in the seat. "It's good to feel like a soldier again."

"Are you telling me you like this?" Bucky frowned, pointing to the countryside. "You like war?"

"Oh no!" I gasped. "It's not that I like war, Bucky. I just don't like bigger guys picking on the little guys. Hitler is a psychotic bully. I don't like bullies."

Bucky laughed. "You sound like Steve."

I leant over. "Well at least I don't look like him because frankly that would put a dampener on this thing we've got going here."

"And what's that?" Bucky asked, trying not to smirk.

I chuckled. "As if I haven't seen you looking at me. There's a glass panel in the car," I pointed out. "And not that I haven't been looking at you, Mr Barnes…I can stop if you're uncomfortable with it."

"No, no," he waved it off, "continue."

I laughed. "I'm glad Philips let you come. You and Steve are good together."

"You're one of us," Bucky pointed out. "Alien or not…gosh-did that just sound as weird to you as it did to me?"

I smiled and leant up against his shoulder. "Say Bucky…what are you going to do when this is over?"

"Marry you I imagine," he shrugged.

I raised an eyebrow. "You're making fun of me."

Bucky laughed and cupped my face in his hands. "Me? Never…" He leant down and gently kissed me. "I'm still gonna take you dancing."

I blushed. "I'm not objecting to that."

Steve suddenly cleared his throat and we jumped away like we'd be caught with our hand in the cookie jar. "Am I going to need to chaperone you two?" he inquired sternly.

Bucky and I looked at each other and smirked. "No!"

Steve sat back down. "We're almost in London," he announced.

I looked at Bucky with a shy smile but I was unable to ignore that thing in the back of my head…should I tell him?


	7. Captain America Part 6

******++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliate characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**Captain America Part 6**

When we arrived in London, Bucky and I didn't seem to be as important or wanted by the high command as Steve was. So after we'd given the higher ups what they wanted, we were dismissed and told that we were no longer needed.

True to his word, Bucky did take me for drinks and dancing to some little bar that I didn't have the chance to catch the name. He was a really sweet kind of guy, a little flirty and sure of himself but sweet all the same. And truthfully, he did look completely handsome in his dress uniform.

"You keep looking at me like I have a third head or something," I frowned, noting Bucky's reflection in the mirror beside the dart board where he was teaching me to play darts.

Bucky shook his head with a smile. "Not a third head…you just look so human…I can't get over the fact that you're not. I'd like to know why you're not back on your world and here with all us little people."

I hit the centre of the target with a dart and sighed. "It's a long story, Bucky. I'd doubt you'd like me after I tell you, so I choose not to tell you." I threw another dart, missing the board entirely this time. "Do you think when Steve goes back after Schmitd that they'd let me go with them? I mean, the Tesseract is my responsibility as is the dagger."

Bucky hesitated. "No offence, Astrid, but you are a dame and the powers that be don't like a dame on the battlefield."

"Even though I have more battle experience than you all combined?" I asked, snatching the darts off the board. "I've already proven once that they can't keep me away so trying a second time isn't going to work."

"You're kind of stubborn aren't you?" he laughed.

I grinned. "Call it a flaw, Bucky."

Bucky opened his mouth to speak when we heard the sound of raised voices from the other room in the bar. Sticking our heads around the corner, we found some of the other soldiers we'd rescued from the HYDRA base, sitting around a table with Steve. Judging by the sound of the conversation, they were indeed talking about going back.

"I think they're idiots," Bucky chuckled when Steve got out of his seat.

We both sat back down. "I think it's kind of brave," I pointed out.

"They're all idiots!" Bucky declared, taking a sip of his whisky.

"So does that make me an idiot for wanting to go with them?" I asked as Steve came to join our little party.

"Makes you one of the more attractive idiots I've ever met," he grinned.

"So how about you?" Steve questioned. "You ready to follow Captain American into the jaws of death?"

"Astrid is," Bucky answered. "But me? Hell no. That little guys from Brooklyn who was too dumb not to run away from a fight-I'm following him." The two men fell silent before Bucky added. "But you're totally keeping the outfit right?"

Steve looked at us. "You know what? It's kind of growing on me."

"So what about me?" I asked, dying to know. "Am I in or am I stuck here?"

Steve sighed. "Against Colonel Phillips better judgement, you're in. You know how to handle the weapon-or so we all hope so you gotta come with us."

I grinned. "Thanks Steve!" Leaning across bar, I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Most of that arguing would have been on your behalf, so thank you."

"Hey!" Bucky objected playfully. "Get your mitts off, Steve."

"Oh relax," I warned him, "Steve has his eyes on someone else," I smirked, nodding in the direction of Agent Carter when she came into the bar wearing a fluid ruby red dress.

The two of them stood to attention, looking mildly surprised at what she was wearing.

"Captain," she nodded, addressing him accordingly.

"Agent Carter," Steve replied.

"Ma'am," Bucky smiled, standing to attention.

"Hi, Peggy," I smiled, leaning against the bar.

"Astrid," Peggy replied, turning to Steve. "Howard has come equipment for you to try. Tomorrow morning?"

Steve nodded. "Sounds good."

"He also wants to see you for some last minute testing," Peggy informed me. "Be there at 0500 hours."

"Yes, ma'am," I smiled.

Peggy looked back to the rowdy soldiers. "I see your top squad is prepping for duty."

"You don't like music?" Steve inquired.

"I do actually," she smiled. "I might even, when this is all over, go dancing."

"Than what are you waiting for?" Bucky snorted.

"The right partner," Peggy answered. The whole time, she never once broke eye contact with Steve. "Astrid, 0500, Steve, 0800."

"I'll be there," we both answered at the same time.

Peggy turned and walked out leaving us.

Bucky shook his head. "I'm invisible. I'm turning into you, it's like a horrible dream."

"Don't take it so hard," Steve warned him. "Enjoy the rest of your night."

I turned to Bucky. "Let's go for a walk, I've never been in London before."

Bucky smiled. "Yes, ma'am. A walk it is."

* * *

_When everything else is said and done, I can use this young man against her. _

_Or to keep her in line. _

_I turn in my seat. What are you doing here? You never come here! This is my mission, you gave it to me._

_It is taking entirely too long. I can hear the anger and impatience in his voice. You have one to get the Tesseract and bring the warrior back to our ranks before I put an end to this little scheme of yours._

_I growled. How dare he come in here, shouting orders? The master gave me this mission and you have your own. _

_He laughed at me, testing my patience. Looking into the bowl, he spoke. She is a pretty things, too wasted to be a guardian. Once you complete your mission, the girl is mine. The master wishes it. He has located another stone and requires the girl to get it. Since she can handle the stone without them affecting her, he wants her working on it. Remember…you have one month to bring the Tesseract to us or we kill you for failure. _

_He ran his fingers through the water, disturbing her image. I stared at him, watching him leave before I threw the bowl at the wall. _

_BRING ME THE TESSERACT!_

* * *

"Bring me the Tesseract," I whispered, rolling over in bed.

"What?" Bucky yawned, jerking awake.

I yawned, completely forgetting what had just come out of my mouth and tucked myself into the little nook of Bucky's arm. "Go back to sleep," I whispered, letting the dream world carry me away.


	8. Captain America Part 7

******++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliate characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**Captain America Part 7**

The following morning breezed past as I spent the time testing my limits for Howard. Not using my abilities for an extended period of time had put me far more out of shape than I originally thought. I was still physically fit but the mental side of my powers left me feeling far more exhausted than what I expected.

Colonel Phillips was pulling out all the stops to make sure I was fit enough to keep up with the boys-turns out-I'm fitter than the boys. I could last longer too thanks to that Asgardian physiology of mine.

For the first hour I spent my time in Howard's lab, he measured the complete voltage of my power and the range. After he was done, Howard turned me over to Colonel Phillips.

After three hours of morning practice, I'd come back to Howard's lab for my test results.

"Fondue is just cheese and bread, my friend," I heard Howard point out as I took some water from a drink bottle.

"Really?" Steve questioned, sounding truly puzzled. "I didn't think..."

"Nor should you, pal," Howard spoke, cutting him off. The moment you think you know what's going on in a woman's head, it's the moment your goose is well and truly cooked. Me, I concentrate on work, which at the moment, is about making sure you and your men do not get killed."

I flicked a spark of static electricity at Howard, making him jump. "I heard that, smarty pants."

Howard cleared his throat, clearly not knowing I was there her turned back to Steve when I joined them. "Carbon polymer," he told Steve, picking up a small handful of some kind of blackish-grey material. "Should withstand your average German bayonet. Although...Hydra's not gonna attack you with a pocket knife." He continued on. "I hear you're kind of attached," Howard spoke, tapping Steve's shield as we past it.

"It's handier than you might think," Steve nodded.

"I took the liberty of coming up with some options," Howard smirked when we came to another table with several different types of shields on it. "This one's fun. She's been fitted with electrical relays that allow you to..."

"What about this one?" Steve wondered, picking up a smaller shield that was out of the way. It was round and looked very thin.

"No, that's just a prototype," Howard objected.

"What's it made of?" Steve asked, staring at it, wanting it.

"Vibranium. It's stronger than steel and a third the weight," Howard answered. "It's completely vibration absorbent."

"How come it's not standard issue?" I asked him. "I mean if it's as handy as you claim it to be, why don't all the soldiers have them? It would be a great help. On Asgard, many warriors carry a shield to help them deflect attacks."  
"That's the rarest metal on earth," Howard answered. "What Steve's holding there, that's all we've got."

I flicked a small charge of electricity at Steve, it hit the shield and bounced off, right back into me. Grinning, I ran my hand along the shiny surface. "Looks light."

"It is," he nodded, holding it out in front of him.

"Are you quite finished, Mr Stark?" Peggy questioned with a slight snap. She came around the corner glaring daggers at Steve like he'd done something. It probably had something to do with the fondue comment. "I'm sure the Captain has some unfinished business."

"What do you think?" Steve asked, clearly wanting her opinion.

Peggy picked up a gun and fired several times, hitting the shield and making all the other lab techs duck. "Yes, I think it works."

I raised an eyebrow at Steve. "Whatever you did, you better undo it, pal. She doesn't look too happy with you."

Steve stared at me. "You're a woman."

I looked down at myself than back up. "Yes, it seems that I am."

Howard chuckled.

"How would you apologise if Bucky messed up with you?" Steve asked.

"Come again?" I frowned.

"I saw you sneaking out of his room this morning," Steve pointed out.

Howard raised an eyebrow. "Steve, don't bury yourself any deeper. Together I'm sure Agent Carter and Miss Ellis would relish in digging your grave."

I folded my arms. "So what if I was sneaking out of Bucky's room this morning, what were you doing sneaking a look?"

Howard cleared his throat. "Miss Ellis, I'll come back to you if you don't mind. I'll finish with Steve than we can go over your gear before you go."

"Sure," I shrugged, heading for the door.

"I had some ideas about the uniform," I heard Steve speak.

"Whatever you want, pal," Howard added.

"Peggy!" I called out, jogging to catch up with her.

Agent Carter turned and waited for me. "What is it, Miss Ellis?"

"Can we talk?" I asked her. "I have a job I want you to look into. It's more research actually but I trust you enough."

Peggy sighed. "What do you want?"

"I need as much information as you can find on a dagger called the _Tonn Dragon Er_ which is Icelandic for Dragon's Tooth. It has the ability to absorb raw power which makes me think it has the ability to neutralise the Tesseract."

Peggy paused. "Go on."

"The Tessearct in my culture is known as the Space Gem," I continued. "It allows the user to exist in any or all locations, move any object throughout reality and warp space. Thing is, there are five other stones, the Mind Gem, the Power Gem, the Reality Gem, the Time Gem and the Soul Gem. I need to know as much information about the dagger because I think someone is using me to collect the gems. I think the dagger is my way out."

"Control?" Peggy gasped. "Miss Ellis-if you're being controlled don't you think you should have warned someone-"

"I can feel when it's happening!" I cut her off. I stared Peggy down, I get that she was concerned but so was I. Having as Asgard soldier under your control was like have a one man army if you're human. "I know when I'm about to black out and something happens. Please, Peggy. Just do what I ask of you. See that I get the information I need. I want this to be done with. I just want to go home."

Peggy sighed. "I will have Howard look into it for you. You have some more training to do. You ship out in a few days. I will have the answers for you before you leave."

"Thanks, Peggy," I smiled. I ran off down the hallway back towards the gym. Maybe there was a way to get out of this without telling anyone why I had been exiled here.


	9. Captain America Part 8

**********++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**Captain America Part 8**

Our little team of nine spent the next couple of weeks taking out HYDRA base after HYDRA base, leaving ruins behind in our wake. The team quickly learnt not to judge me by my petite figure and my quiet nature after seeing me in action for the first time. Before leaving London, Howard had given me two batons made of conductive metal that allowed me to channel my electrical abilities without having to use my hands in close combat. They were light and could resist an amazing amount of pressure. Howard wished me luck before I left, he had a certain distaste for war and despite helping out in the effort, didn't wish to be in the middle of such an affair.

Despite the circumstances, for the first time in a long time, I was happy. I wasn't alone. I had friends. Steve, Peggy, Howard and Bucky were an add group of friends to have, each had their own unique personality unlike my friends back home on Asgard. Peggy had come through with the information that I wanted, but under the circumstances, I hadn't had time to read it so I gave it to Steve to look after. If, whoever was using me, managed to get control of me again, at least Steve would be able to stop me.

After taking out the second last of the HYRDA bases from the map that Steve had provided, our squad received intelligence that Schmidt's top scientist, Arnim Zola-or the short, fat scientist, was being moved via train. Zola was being moved to the last of the HYDRA bases and HQ wanted us to bring him in.

That seemed to be easy enough but when they came up with the idea to zip line across down a rocky mountain and get onto the train I told Steve they were nuts but reluctantly agreed to go. I wasn't going to be attacking the train but I was meeting them at the rendezvous point with one of the other men. After days of climbing through the snow and up mountains we finally managed to find a high enough advantage point above the train line that would carry Zola to his destination. As I looked down, I tied my blonde curls out of my way as I tried to ignore the sick feeling in my stomach.

I turned back to the men and sighed. So far we'd managed not to lose anyone. That fact was relieving considering that they now seemed to be a part of a really odd family to me. I wish that I was able to introduce my new family to my old family. My mother was always wanting me to make new friends, and I'm sure she would love them all. Timothy Dugan, Gabe Jones, Jim Morita, James Montgomery Falsworth and Jacques Derier had all been in the same cage as me and Bucky when we'd been captured by HYDRA.

"You feeling ok?" Bucky questioned, catching my attention.

I looked at him with a slight smile. "Yeah. Everything's fine."

_That's a lie._

"That's a lie," Bucky answered. "You get this look on your face when you get worried, you've got that look."

"Just a feeling I can't shake," I told him. "But I'm probably just worrying about nothing so you better get ready to go."

"Hey Astrid," Bucky smiled, "when we get back-I don't want to do what we're doing anymore. This backwards and forwards." I paused. Why on earth would he be smiling about something like that? "I'm going to take you on a proper date, no interruptions," he told me. "Then when I ask you to go steady with me-you're gonna say yes."

I raised an eyebrow. "What's steady mean?" I asked him.

Everyone stared at me. By now each of them knew that I wasn't human, they knew I came from a place called Asgard like in the Norse myths of this world, they knew pretty much everything. They had been weary at first but Steve and Bucky were quick to jump to my defence. In fact, they were weary still now but they were accepting more than anything.

"It's questions like that that really make it obvious you ain't human," Jim pointed out.

The rest of the boys laughed.

"Come on, Miss Ellis," Timothy groaned, slugging his rifle over his shoulder. "We better start the track down if we're going to meet them in time."

I grabbed Steve's arm. "Seriously, Steve," I whispered. "What's steady mean?"

Steve looked at me and smiled. "It means date. As in serious dating."

I stared at him. "Human customs are weird."

"You're customs ain't much better!" Jim laughed.

I grabbed Bucky's hand and kissed him. "Come back, soldier because my answer is yes."

Bucky grinned. "You be careful."

"I'm walking down a mountain-how bad could it be?" I joked, punching Bucky in the arm a little. I tucked some loose strands of hair out of my face and started following Timothy down the mountain. The rendezvous point was a couple miles away but Howard was going to meet us there, he had soldiers with him but they were fresh faced when it came to dealing with HYDRA and we really couldn't afford to lose our only ride out of here.

* * *

There was barely any daylight left by the time Timothy and I made it to our rendezvous point. Howard was waiting in his Boeing 307 painted a classy shade of bright reflective silver. I told him constantly on our flight back to Europe that he should paint it a less conspicuous colour that doesn't scream hey, look at me.

"Boys get off ok?" Howard called out as we came in through the open cargo hold.

"When we left they were talking about something called a Coney Island," I answered. "What's a Coney Island?"

"It's an island in New York," Howard answered, sticking his head out so he could see me. "You're telling me that you lived in New York and you never once went to Coney Island?"

I shrugged. "I was there to hide, not to vacation."

"Speaking of, have you read that file yet?" Howard inquired before we heard the sounds of our guys coming back.

I shook my head. "No. I'll read it when I have the time. Steve's keeping an eye on it for me." I sat my rifle against the side of the plane and jogged outside to look for Bucky.

Steve pushed Arnim Zola to Jim and came over to me. "Astrid-"

I looked around. Gabe, Jim, James and Jacques were with him, as was Zola but Bucky was nowhere to be seen. I got a sick feeling in the bottom of my stomach. "Steve…where's Bucky?"

Steve shook his head. "Astrid-I'm sorry-"

I held my hand up. "No, don't you say it!" I snapped.

"He didn't make it," Steve finished.

My whole world feel inwards. I cared about Bucky…maybe even loved him and now he was gone.

"Steve!" Howard shouted as a thick static energy filled the area. "Steve! Give her this!"

I pushed passed Steve and stormed towards Zola with every intention of killing him after I had caused him the same amount of pain he was causing me. Suddenly there was a sharp quick pain in the back of my neck and my knees started to feel funny. They gave way underneath me when I was only a few feet away from Zola and I collapsed.

"I'm sorry," I heard Howard speak before there was another sharp pain in my neck. "This is for your own good."

And that was the last thing I heard.


	10. Captain America Part 9

******++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**Captain America Part 9**

_Liar. _

_Thief. _

_Traitor. _

_Murderer. _

_I remember feeling fuzzy that morning, like there was a screen pulled over my eyes. Climbing out of bed, I vaguely remember seeing my own reflection in the mirror, I was pale and there were deep, dark pits underneath my eyes. Shrugging it off to a bad night sleep and a little too much to drink last night, I dressed and left the barracks ready for the days training. _

_I smiled as I walked along the hallways, greeting each warrior in kind. One of the Warrior Three stopped me-I think it was Fandral-and he asked me to deliver something to Thor that they had taken from the field of battle. I bowed and accepted my task as was the duty of a Shield-Maiden of Asgard. _

_Thor was not in his quarters so I continued looking for him, each step I took had me grow more and more fuzzy until I opened the box to look at what was inside. It was a dagger roughly the same length as my arm with a golden hilt imbedded with jewels of different shapes and sizes. This was certainly a prize worthy of Thor, prince of Asgard. _

_I smiled and closed the box…_

_…there was blood…so much blood slipping in my fingers and all over my clothes…I looked down at the site of him lying there…doubled over…he would have never suspected an attack from someone like me…_

_Thor…_

_Thank you for the gauntlet, I smirked, holding both it and the dagger tightly…_

_Allfather…I killed Thor…_

* * *

I screamed when I sat upright in my bed, gasping for breath.

_…the dagger has the power to neutralize items of the Infinity…_

My grandfather's voice shot through my mind as I remembered a story he once told us when we were children.

"Astrid?"

It was Steve.

I looked around the room-it was Bucky's rooms back in London…Bucky…I buried my face in my hands and started to cry. "It wasn't a dream? Was it."

Silence.

"No," Steve breathed. "It wasn't. I'm so sorry, Astrid. I couldn't save him…I tried."

As much as I wanted to blame Steve, there was no way that I could. Steve hadn't killed him…Schmitd had. "When do we go after Schmitd?" I demanded to know, tears still rolling down my face.

"You don't, we do," Phillips announced when he came in with his soldiers.

I glared at him. "Who gives you the right to keep me out of this?"

"You're unstable," Phillips answered. "We've been having to sedate you on the hour every hour since Sergeant Barnes was KIA."

"I want to be there!" I shouted. "Schmitd, the Tesseract, the dagger, you have no idea what forces you are dealing with! If I can get either the dagger or the Tesseract I can neutralize it. Anyone else who touches it will die.

Steve cleared his throat. "Sir…this mission would do poorly if Astrid wasn't allowed to come. Howard is smart and all but Astrid knows about this weapon of Schmidt's."

I glared at Phillips. "I'm going to do this…for Bucky?" I whispered.

Steve nodded. "For Bucky."

Phillip's glared at the two of us. "This is on your head, Rogers, if it goes wrong."

"It won't, sir," Steve answered.

"Then get ready, we've a debriefing to go to."

* * *

"How much time we got?" I asked from my seat in the debriefing room.  
"According to my new best friend, under 24 hours," Phillips answered.

I wanted to feel like he was talking directly to me but I know he was talking to the whole room. Everyone here had lost someone in the war-not just me. I felt a twang of guilt in my heart…I should have gone with Bucky…first Thor, now Bucky…it wasn't fair. Whoever was doing this to me was going to wish they were never born.

"Where is he now?"  
"Hydra's last base is here..." Phillips announced, pointing at a photo he held in his hands, "in the Alps, five hundred feet below the surface."

"So what are we supposed to do? I mean, it's not like we can just knock on the front door?"

"Why not?" Steve answered. He looked at every one of us with a serious look on his face. "That's exactly what we're gonna do."

I snorted. "So, what? You let yourself get captured?"

Steve looked at me. "Schmidt wants me dead."

"And I'm a treasure to him," I replied.

"We go in together?" Steve asked.

I nodded. "We sure do."

I need to get my hands on the dagger…I knew exactly what I had to do with it…file or no file.

* * *

_This isn't supposed to happen!_

_I slammed my fists on the table beside the bowl, staring at her determined image. How is it possible that one is able to fight the effects of the Soul Gem! _

_That's for Bucky you son of a bitch!_

_Her voice was high and full of broken emotions. _

_Yeah I've known you've been there for a while, she snapped. She looked so focused on the plan but she was forcing her way past that barrier in her mind that I'd constructed to be my sanctuary. I know what you've done…what gem you used…and I know exactly how to stop you…_

_The image instantly froze over before shattering like glass all over me…I heard a chuckle behind me. Dear me…she's stronger than you imagined. Perhaps you chose the wrong victim…_

* * *

I wrapped my arms around Steve's torso as he started the bike.

The plan was so simple it bordered on art.

"You ready?" Steve questioned.

I think he was asking himself more than he was asking me. "Let's just get this over with," I replied. Shifting a little to get used to the weird feeling of Steve's shield on my back.

Together the two of us sped down the forest road on the motorbike Howard had supplied us. For the first few miles, we ran into no resistance before eventually being set upon by HYDRA forces.

They fired at us, the raw energy bouncing off Steve's shield as we drove. I had to silently thank the Fates for the shield working and not disintegrating me. I closed my eyes and buried my head in Steve's back and waited for us to stop.

"I NEED MY SHIELD!" Steve yelled.

I pulled it off my back and gave it to Steve so he could stick it in the front between the handles. I could see a tank in front of us and gulped. "THAT'S A TANK STEVE!" I shouted back.

"YES! I KNOW!"

The tank started firing at us.

"STEVE, TAKE THE RAMP!" I yelled, preparing to jump.

As Steve drove up the ramp, I jumped off and landed on the tank. Reaching around, I grabbed my batons and slammed one right down onto the metal, sending an electrical charge through everything, causing the tank to malfunction. Live charges of electricity shot through the tank before it blew up, sending me flying through the air, hitting the ground with a thud.

I groaned and picked myself up to start taking out the HYDRA soldiers that came to kill me. Managing to get in one of two kills before Steve and I found ourselves back to back and completely surrounded by the enemy.

Just how it's supposed to be.


	11. Captain America - The End

******++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**Captain America – The End**

The guards escorted both Steve and myself through the base and straight to Schmidt's private office. We'd been stripped of any weapons-I'd even had my boot knife taken off me to my chargin as it had been a gift from Bucky.

"Arrogance may not be a uniquely American trait, but I must say, you do it better than anyone. But there are limits to what even you can do, Captain. Or did Erskine tell you otherwise?" Schmidt smirked as he studied Steve.  
"He told me you were insane," Steve answered, staring him down.

"Ah," Schmidt laughed. "He resented my genius and tried to deny me  
what was rightfully mine, but he gave you everything. So what made you so special?"  
"Well for one he doesn't have an ugly red face like yours," I answered.

Schmidt glared at me. "I will be with you in a moment, fraulein."

Can hardly wait…I smirked, eyeing the dagger on the desk.  
"Nothing," Steve answered, referring back to Schmidt's question. "I'm just a kid from Brooklyn."

Schmidt growled, striking Steve twice in the face and several times in the stomach, knocking him to the ground.

"Leave him alone!" I shouted, struggling against my guards.

"I can do this all day," Steve smirked.

"Oh, of course you can. Of course," Schmidt agreed. "But unfortunately, I am on a tight schedule."

Steve started at him. "So are we."

Then suddenly on queue it happened, the windows smashed open as the others from our squad came bursting in through the windows over-looking the Alps. I swung my elbow back, connecting with the guard on my left. When I spun around, I grabbed a baton and smacked the second guard in the head and killing him instantly with a surge of electricity.

I ran over to the desk and picked up the dagger, sliding it out of the sheath. "Perfect, I whispered, trying to ignore the feeling of Thor's blood all over the knife.

"Astrid!" Steve shouted.

I looked at Steve. "I know what I gotta do, you get Schmidt!" I yelled. I raised the dagger above my chest and stabbed down hard.

"Astrid! No!" Steve yelled. He managed to reach me before I hit the ground. "What is this?" he asked. "Astrid, what do I do?"

I could see that the gems on the dagger were glowing green just as I was. "Get Schmidt," I groaned.

Steve wrapped his hand around the dagger and yanked it out. I screamed out in pain but felt a mild twang of pleasure as I watched the green mist be absorbed by the dagger. "Jim!" he yelled.

"Captain?"

"Take care of her!" Steve ordered, putting me on the ground.

"Good luck, Steve," I gasped, feeling clarity for the first time in years.

"Where do you think you're going?" Jim demanded from me. He shook me a little, putting pressure on my wound.

"Just having a rest," I answered back, closing my eyes.

* * *

When I woke up I was lying again in a hospital bed free of wires and this time not cuffed to my bed. Howard Stark was sitting beside me, reading a file with the letters SSR on the front. I shifted in my bed, sitting up. "What's SSR stand for?"

"Strategic Scientific Reserve," Howard answered. He closed the folder and for a brief second I saw the name ROGERS, Steve on the inside. "Glad to see you're awake, one more inch to the left and you would have lost a lung."

"How long was I out?" I asked him, looking out the window.

"Couple days, week at most," Howard answered, truthfully. "Listen-I need to tell you something which is probably good that you're sitting down."

I paused.

"Steve didn't make it," Howard answered. Without giving me any time, Howard told me of the fight between Schmidt and Steve up in the airplane above the Artic. He told me how Steve killed Schmidt and how he had to put the plane down somewhere in the Artic. They'd lost contact with him but yesterday they managed to find the coordinates where they think he crashed so tomorrow he would be heading out with a team from the SSR to look for him. The Tesseract had gone down with the ship and the dagger was safely tucked away in Howard's personal research lab if ever I needed it.

"I want in," I told him, struggling with the knowledge that I'd lost a lover and a friend in the space of two weeks. I wanted to know how Peggy was but I assumed, she, like me, would be a wreck.

"I though you would," Howard answered, holding another file out to me. "I managed to convince Washington that you would be a good resource to utilise. Sign that and you'll be an official member of the SSR."

"Sounds too much like the USSR," I pointed out, taking the file. It was a waver form-whatever a waver was. It basically said that if I ever told the secrets of the United States Government that I would be liable to charges of treason. I waved the right to sue-again, whatever that meant-the government for any loss of life in the line of duty. I took Howard's pen and signed my name on the line where it said sign here.

When Howard took the file off me, he handed Steve's file. "Take a look, see what you think. And just a little information for you, the SSR is to become a part of a bigger organisation called SHIELD."

"Which stands for?" I asked.

"The Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division," Howard answered.

I snorted. "You need a better name."

Howard shrugged. "We'll make do. Once the doc gives you the all clear, you're coming with me and we're gonna find Steve."

I nodded. "Whatever it takes," I answered with a soft smile.

I owed it to Steve…in fact…the whole world owed it to Steve and we were gonna bring him home.

* * *

**++++++ Ok so that was the end of Captain America - The First Avenger. I'm planning on doing some X-Men stories as well as some episode's of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D as well because to be honest, an Infinity Gem being found on Earth would be a great 0-8-4 or an object of unknown origin. I'm really doing this story for fun so I'm not asking for your reviews, in no way do i plan on holding chapters hostage for reviews. This is just a bit of fun for me. However, if you spot any inconsistencies in Marvel Lore, please PM me and i will fix it. Thank you ++++++**


	12. X-Men First Class Part 1

******++++++ So this is part one of X-Men First Class, I hope you enjoy ++++++**

******++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**X-Men First Class Part 1**

It's getting to that point of time in my life where all my friends are starting to grow older whilst I am eternally stuck looking like I'm in my early twenties. I should have been at Howard and Maria's for Howard's birthday party but after last year's fiasco I really didn't see the point. Certain people did what people do best and accused me of being Howard's younger mistress.

Maria, the ever faithful and whimsical wife simply just laughed it off.

I'd made up my mind last year that I wasn't going and I had stayed true to my word. I had told Howard that I was going to be working on the kinks and problems we were still having with SHIELD but instead I was here in the bar across the street from my apartment enjoying a couple shots of whisky.

"Another?" the bartender inquired.

I looked up at the suited bartender with a raised eyebrow. We had this sort of unspoken friendship, the kind of bond that you can get with someone after only knowing them for four hours. I pushed my class over to him and he poured another shot of Craig.

"You make it look so easy drinking whisky like that," came a sudden foreign accent. The owner was British and reminded me so much of Peggy, I should probably go and pay her a visit but unlike her, I wasn't aging.

I glanced up into the mirror and found myself staring at two men, one short, one tall, one with blond hair, the other with brown curls. "And who are you meant to be?" I asked them.

"My name is Charles Xavier and this is Eric Lehnsherr," the British one answered. "May we take a seat?"

"Free world," I shrugged. "You two don't look like FBI or CIA," I noted, "or NSA for that matter."

"How do you know we're not?" the one who called himself Eric inquired. "We could be FBI or CIA-"

"Well that would be impossible because the FBI and CIA know about SHIELD and who it's agents are," I pointed out, "and you two fellas are not government agents otherwise someone above your pay grade would be here so tell me what you're doing here." I looked at Eric and my eyes trailed to his arm. "214782…Auschwitz huh?" I asked him. "You poor little shit."

Charles cleared his throat. "We came to talk to you about a team we're putting together."

"A team?" I smirked. "What kind of team?"

"A team of mutant's like yourself," Charles continued. He waved the bartender down for some wine. "How do you fare with others?"

I raised an eyebrow. Howard, Peggy and I were working hard on making a name for SHIELD, we were still young and since hardly anyone had ever heard of the SSR getting the respect we needed wasn't as easy as we had first thought. "You're trying to read my mind," I smirked, feeling him hitting the wall I'd built. "I learnt a long time ago to shield my mind from telepaths and outside influences." I swallowed the whisky and sat the glass upside down on the counter. "So Charlie-boy here is a telepath-what does that make you?" I inquired.

Eric moved his hand a little and the dog tags underneath my shirt came flying out into his hands. "I can manipulate metal, Miss Ellis. We've shown you ours now you show us yours. What gift does your mutation give you?"

I rubbed my thumb and forefinger together and pulled them apart with a small arc of electricity flowing between the two. "Electricity and I know each other intimately. And for the record, I am no mutant."

"You don't need to be embarrassed by your mutation," Charles pointed out, a rather odd grin on his face. "Mutation is the key to our evolution. It had enables us to evolve from single-celled organisms into the dominate-"

I leant sideways and pressed my lips up against his whilst simultaneously opening my mind to him. I showed Charles everything from the moment of my birth, my childhood, my training, Steve, the gems …everything. When I pulled away the telepath was starting at me with a mixture of awe and shock. "Cat got your tongue?" I inquired.

"You-you kissed me!" he exclaimed.

"It seemed the only way to shut you up and explain at the same time," I retorted. "Worked didn't it? I showed you everything, you don't need to ask questions. Questions are annoying when you're running out of time, and you Charles do not have much time."

"Charles?" Eric frowned, questioning his friend to see if he was hurt. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, quite fine," Charles confessed after he'd cleared his throat. "We-um-have a car waiting out the front, Miss Ellis."

"It's Astrid," I corrected him.

The bartender stuck his head out from behind the bar and cleared his throat to get my attention. "Astrid, you have a phone call."

"Who is it?" I asked as I tossed some money down on the bar and grabbed my jacket off the back of the chair. "I need to grab some stuff from my apartment first," I told Charles.

"Howard Stark," he answered.

I rolled my eyes. Of course Howard would know I was here. "Tell Howard I'm a little busy at the moment. If he has any problems call Pierce and find me."

"I shall relay the message."

"Who exactly do you work for?" Eric asked when the three of us headed over to my apartment.

"SHIELD," I answered. "The Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division."

"You need a shorter name," Eric snorted.

"Funny thing is I keep telling Howard we need a better name," I laughed when we came to my apartment. "Wait here whilst I grab a bag." I unlocked the door and went inside. I paused by the bookshelf at a photo of me, Bucky, Steve, and Peggy-you could have sworn we were on a double date but the photo was taken before we lost Bucky and Steve. Shaking my head I went into the bedroom to pack.

It was time to save the world again…dress casual.


	13. X-Men First Class Part 2

**********++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**X-Men First Class Part 2**

The secret government facility that Charles and Eric took me to was in Washington, just outside the city. The plane ride was certainly silent as Charles processed everything that he had seen in my mind whilst Eric read from some files with CIA written over them.

"So am I going to be briefed on what exactly is going on?" I questioned, pouring myself a glass of whisky.

Eric laughed. "I'm surprised you didn't ask us by now. We could be kidnapping you for all you know."

It was my turn to laugh. "I doubt you would see me worth the risk. I work for an organisation that spans between the US and the UK. I work for SHIELD-the Supreme Headquarters, International Espionage, Law-Enforcement Division. Trust me-I'm more trouble than I'm worth when it comes to the kidnapping department. I can literally make all the electrical systems in this plane fail and crash-see, I'll come away free and you'll both be crushed to death."

"That's lovely," Charles noted. He cleared his throat. "Well, in that case-we're after a man called Sebastian Shaw."

"Also known as Klaus Schmidt," Eric continued on.

I leant forward in my seat. "You mean Doctor Klaus Schmidt who worked in Auschwitz? His specialty was Genealogy?"

Both Eric and Charles nodded uneasily.

I sat back and frowned. SHIELD had a list of scientists from World War 2 that we were trying to find to put away. Schmidt was one of them…I hated the name Schmidt. It reminded me too much of Steve and Bucky…we knew that Bucky was dead but the only thing we'd found in the search for Steve was the Tesseract.

"So what's Shaw up to?" I asked.

Charles shook his head. "We don't know, yet. But that's why we're putting a team together so we can find out. Shaw also has his own team."

I put my legs up on the table and sighed. "That just sounds dandy. Wake me up when we get to Washington. You're out of whisky."

When we arrived in Washington, a black car picked us up from the airport and transported the three of us to one of the bleakest looking buildings I had ever scene.

"So is this where your mutant team hangs out?" I asked Charles with a slight smirk on my face. At SHIELD everything was black and shiny-apart from Howard's lab which was a mess. I looked around at the room which was decorated to true sixties style with its light wood shelves and pattern wood, there was a jukebox on the wall and a pinball machine. I wasn't amused by the fact that it looked more like a club house than a secret facility but by the fact that this team that Charles and Eric had put together were nothing but a bunch of kids-one of them was hanging off the light fixture.

"What the hell?" gasped a woman who had met us at the front door. I think her name was Moira. "What are you doing!" she shouted. "Who destroyed the statue?"

The kids stopped in their tracks. The one hanging off the light dropped to the floor. "It was Alex!"

A blonde stepped forward. "No! Havock! We have to call him Havock! That's his name now. And we were thinking, you should be Professor X," she grinned, pointing to Charles, "and you should be Magneto."

I raised an eyebrow. "Special group of people, hey?" I asked Charles.

"Play nice," Charles warned, he looked angry, "I'd like you all to meet Astrid Ellis from New York, Astrid, this is Raven Darkholme, Hank McCoy, Angel Salvadore, Sean Cassidy, Alex Summers and Armando Munoz."

I turned my attention to each of them in turn. They all looked so young-evident by the fact that they had been acting like children, using their powers.

The blonde-Raven Darkholme-got to her feet and came over to me. "Finally! We were beginning to be outnumbered by boys. Nice to meet you, Astrid." She didn't seem at all phased by what had just happened.

"Yeah, you too," I frowned.

I took my jacket off before I sat down.

"What's that?" Angel asked, pointing to my waist line.

I looked down at my SHIELD badge. "Oh-It's my badge." I dumped my overnight bag on the ground and was shoved down on the lounge between Raven and Hank.

"Government?" I was asked by Moira.

"I'd tell you but I'd have to kill you," I answered. "Sorry-didn't catch your name."

"Special Agent Moira MacTaggart," she replied.

I shook her hand. "Astrid Ellis."

Charles cleared his throat again. "Astrid, I hate to just leave you here but we have a job in Russia and unfortunately I doubt any of them are trained to handle the situation."

I raised an eyebrow. "I don't think it's fair you stick me with the baby sitting gig Charles."

"Are you ready, Charles, Eric?" Moira asked Charles and Eric. She looked at me. "Charles says he trusts you enough to keep an eye on things here whilst we look for Shaw."

I glanced over at Eric and Charles. "Sure. You kids go have all the fun. I'll hold the fort. Might want to get someone to fix the window to the zoo."

Charles glared at me and Eric laughed.

Once the boys and Moira had left, all eyes suddenly became attuned to me. "So," Raven smiled, "what are your powers?"

"So that's what you were doing," I chuckled, putting two and two together. "Showing off your powers…explain to me who does what. You seem to be the leader of this little band of misfits."

Raven smiled and she took my form. "Thank you."

I chuckled. "You're a shapeshifter."

She nodded and returned back to classic-Raven.

I looked at Hank. "Besides the whole monkey from the roof-what can you do?"

"He's super smart," Raven answered. "And Angel-she has wings and can shoot acid spit balls."

I wrinkled my nose up. "Acid spit balls?"

"Banshee can scream at really loud sounds," Raven continued to explain, pointing to Sean. "And Havock can shoot off energy beams. Darwin-"

"Adapts to survive," I nodded.

"How did you know?" he asked with a laugh.

"With a name like Darwin?" I replied. "Had to be something to do with adaption."

"So what can you do?" Hank questioned.

"Electricity manipulation," I answered. "Whatever I could show you here would pale in comparison to what I can actually do so you will have to take my word for it."

There was a knock on the door and another nameless agent wearing a black suit came in. "Agent Ellis?" he called out.

I stood up. "That's me."

"You have a phone call from a Howard Stark."

I sighed.

Trust Howard, he could find me anywhere.


	14. X-Men First Class Part 3

**********++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**X-Men First Class Part 3**

The following evening I found myself sitting at the table in the back of the room going over some files that Howard had couriered to me. It was some information on Klaus Schmidt that the allies had collected after liberating Auschwitz. I picked up a cold spring roll and went to eat it just as I heard a series of cat calls and whistles coming from the newly repaired window.

"I didn't know the circus was in town."  
"Hey, come on, honey. Give us a little...No? Come on, let's see the foot."  
"There it is. Come on, Big Foot, let's go."

I looked up and saw two agents at the window looking in. I sat back in my chair and dropped my pen on the table. Jerks, I thought.

Raven stood up and went to shut the curtains.  
"Hey. Hey, come on. Hey."  
"They're just guys being stupid," Raven told Angel, she seemed to be to most disturbed by the taunts from the CIA agents.  
"Guys being stupid, I can handle. Okay?" Angel answered. "I've handled that my whole life. But I'd rather a bunch of guys stare at me with my clothes off than the way these ones stare at me. At us."

"Sticks and stones," I spoke up. "You wear your heart on your sleeve Angel and it's gonna be a target."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Angel argued.

I laughed. "Sure I do. I'm old enough and ugly enough to know that you're only as strong as you make yourself. Charles is proud of what he is, Eric is proud, Darwin's pretty down with what he is-" I stopped speaking when I heard the distinct sound of something popping. "What is that?" I frowned. "Raven-curtains!" I shouted.

Raven opened the curtains just in time to watch a body fall from the sky.

They screamed when it hit the ground followed by another and another.

I ran over to my travel bag and started searching the contents for my batons, they were in the bottom of the bag, wrapped up in a piece of old cloth. Howard had made some improvements over the years, including being able to store electricity.

The courtyard quickly filled up with CIA agent with rifles.

One of them tapped the window. "GET BACK! DO NOT LEAVE THAT ROOM!"

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"

"DO NOT LEAVE THAT ROOM!"

Something smoky appeared in the shape of a man and the agents started to fire, shattering the glass when it vanished again.

They kids all scrambled down behind the furniture, seeking cover until there was a loud rushing nose over the sound of gun shots. I turned, looking out the other window only to freeze when I saw a tornado making its way across the lawn.

Howard would have loved this, was my first train of thought.

"GET OUT!" I yelled at them as I made my way over to the broken window.

"What about you?" Raven gasped. She was clearly terrified-they all were. "What are you going to do?"

"My job," I answered. The kids ran out of the room but that wasn't what I was focused on, I was more focused on the sharply dressed figure with the tail and the red skin, teleporting from agent to agent, killing them with two distinctive swords. I whistled, catching his attention before firing a bolt of electricity at him.

He teleported out and appeared behind me.

I spun around and swung the baton right into his face, sending him flying across the room.

He teleported out right before he hit the wall only to appear back outside. He struck at me, metal against metal. It was something similar to dancing as we brushed past each other, trying to land a strike whilst simultaneously trying to dodge each other's attacks. I landed a hit, sending him out of the room only for him to vanish.

He walked back into the room as a loud explosion rocked the building followed by the sound of screaming kids and more shattering glass. The owner of the tornados came waltzing in through the second broken window after the kids had come running in.

"Back up!" I shouted, standing in front of them.

The side door opened up and a third man wearing a helmet came in. He had to be the leader of the devil and his sidekick. He took his helmet off and flashed a smile. "Good evening," he spoke. "My name is Sebastian Shaw. And I am not here to hurt you."  
"Freeze!" yelled an agent from the courtyard.  
"Azazel." We watched the teleporter disappear to kill the agent before reappearing back inside. "My friends, there is a revolution coming. When mankind discovers who we are,  
what we can do, each of us will face a choice. Be enslaved or rise up to rule. Choose freely, but know that if you are not with us, then, by definition, you are against us. So, you can stay and fight for the people who hate and fear you, or you can join me and live like kings. And queens."

"Or you can crawl back underneath the rock where you came from, Schmidt," I scowled.

He turned his gaze from the kids and focused his attention on me. "You're a clever girl, aren't you? What's your name?"

"Astrid," I replied. "And I know all about you, Schmidt…you've been on SHIELD's radar for all these years. Imagine my surprise to find you here looking like you did when the allies took out Auschwitz." I shook my head. "No wonder Eric wants to kill you…after what you did in those camps-hell-I want to kill you."

"Such smarts shouldn't be wasted here," Shaw smirked. "You would do wise not to fight against us. Already one of you has decided to join us."

I turned, all eyes were on Angel as she stepped by me to stand with Shaw and the other two. "Are you kidding me?"  
"Come on."  
"We don't belong here," Angel argued.  
"And that's nothing to be ashamed of," Shaw smirked.  
"We have to do something!" Raven argued.  
"Stop. I'm coming with you."

"Darwin!"  
"Good choice," Shaw nodded.  
"So, tell me about your mutation,"  
"Well, I adapt to survive," Darwin answered. "So, I guess I'm coming with you.  
"I like that," Shaw chuckled.

Darwin grabbed Angel, pulling her away from Shaw. "Alex!"  
"Get out!" Alex yelled.  
"Do it!" he roared.

Alex twisted his body and two separate energy discs came off his body and hit Shaw head on.

The energy fluctuated and Shaw's body started to absorb it. "Protecting your fellow mutants? That's a noble gesture."

Darwin tried to strike him but Shaw blocked him. He produced a small ball of energy and forced it down Darwin's throat. "Adapt to this."

I stepped forward but Alex stuck his arm out in front of me, stopping me from going out. All we could do was stand there and watch as Darwin started to glow and Shaw disappeared.

I'd seen people explode before but nothing like this…his entire body turned to stone before it shattered into a million pieces.

This saving the world business isn't what it used to be.


	15. X-Men First Class Part 4

**++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**X-Men First Class Part 4**

The first thing I did was pick up the files and paperwork that had been strewn all over the place. This was top secret stuff and having it lying around for everyone to see was technically breaking the law.

"What was that thing you did with the batons?" Raven asked me, interrupting my own line of thought.

I looked to my bag and back to Raven. "Charles is back," I pointed out, nodding to Charles and Eric as they came in looking at the damage.

Raven dismissed me immediately and rushed over to Charles to speak with him.

"I see you got attacked," Eric spoke.

I shoved the last of the wayward papers in my bag and looked around at the damage for the millionth time in the last few hours. "Sebastian Shaw and his minions…the guy in the suit and the red devil. It damages my calm to see what they did and not being able to do anything about it. Darwin's dead, Angel went with them. Sure makes me feel like I'm a failure. You guys left me to look after them and not even a day into the job and one's dead and the other's a turncoat."

Charles cleared his throat to catch our attention. "I've made arrangements for you all to be taken home immediately."

Sean shook his head as he walked up to us. "We're not going home."

"What?" Charles frowned.

Sean nodded to Alex. "He's not going back to prison."

"They killed Darwin," Alex objected.

"All the more reason for you to leave," Charles insisted. "This is over."

Raven shook her head. "Darwin's dead, Charles. And we can't even bury him because there's nothing to bury."

"We can avenge him," Eric insisted.

"Before you set out for revenge, be sure to dig two graves," I spoke up. "Chinese proverb." I bent down to pick up my badge off the floor-during the fight it had been knocked off.

"They're just kids," Charles objected.

"No, they were kids," Eric argued back. "Shaw has his army and we need ours."

"I don't know about you but I'm not a kid," I mumbled under my breath. "I'm older than all of you combined actually."

Charles groaned, ignoring what I'd just said. "We'll have to train. All of us. Yes?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah."

Hank sighed. "We can't stay here. Even if they re-opened the department, it's not safe. We've got nowhere to go."

Charles paused for a moment. "Yes," he answered. "Yes, we do."

"So we're off to the Xavier Ancestry Estate?" I asked with a grin.

Charles and Raven both turned to look at me. "How did you know about that?"

I shrugged. "We at SHIELD know everything. I do believe you're located at 1407 Graymalkin Lane, North Salem." I smirked at the look on Charles' face. "Don't look so shocked. Shall I bring the car around?"

* * *

When we arrived at the Xavier mansion, I found myself reminded by its grandeur of Asgard. They could no way be compared to each other but the enormousness of the mansion and the large halls reminded me of home. After unpacking, I managed to track down a phone in the kitchen and called Howard at home to apprise him of the situation. When I hung up, I found Eric standing in the entrance of the kitchen holding an empty coffee cup in his hands.

"Sorry," I smiled. "Had to use the phone. Checking in with the wife."

"We never had the chance to talk properly," Eric smiled falsely. He came in and sat down at the table, motioning for me to sit.

"See that's some charming smile you got there, Lehnsherr," I answered, sitting down with a glass of water. "Bet it works on a lot of girls. Pity I'm not exactly a regular girl."

Eric chuckled. "Yes, I wanted to speak to you about that…you knew that I was in Auschwitz. I have to ask, how?"

I looked him in the eyes. "I have experience with Nazi mad men."

"How, exactly?" Eric asked me. "You barely look over the age of twenty. When Charles said you're possibly over two hundred years old I can't see how that is plausible."

I paused, thinking about Schmidt.

_Schmidt leant in so that he could whisper in my ear. "You're lying, fraulein Ellis." He put his hand on my shoulder and gripped it tightly. "The eyes never lie." Schmidt wrapped his hand around my throat and lifted my entire body out of the chair with ease. _

_I grasped at his hands but they would not give so I grabbed each side of his head and unleashed as much of the built up energy I had in reserve. All he did was laugh at me and after what seemed like a life time, he threw me across the room into one of his bookshelves. I hit the shelf with an almighty thud and fell to the floor, both books and wood coming down on top of me. I suddenly found myself buried by books but only for a few seconds. Someone grabbed the collar of my shirt and dragged me out-Schmidt dragged me over to his desk and slammed my head against the wood several times until I was dazed-this man was as strong as I was-if not stronger. Carefully he reached over and grabbed the dagger before he used the tip of the blade to cut through the back of my jacket and shirt. _

_"And there we have it, fraulein Ellis," Schmidt smirked, releasing me. "The Mark of Infinity. You're here for the Tesseract…it belongs to me. The Jewel of Odin's treasure room in mine and now, so are you."_

Eric poked me in the shoulder, catching my attention.

I shook my head. "Sorry." I took a sip of water. "When I said that I wasn't a mutant I meant it. I come from a world known as Asgard. What you hear of as myths and legends but for me it's life-well it was life." I paused a little, thinking about the Tesseract and how it was safely locked away in some unnamed SHIELD location-well not unnamed to me. I knew where it was. Once I'd come into contact with an Infinity Gem I would always know where it is. I sighed. "Perhaps you should go back to your training. Leave us non-mutants to our own devices. I have some paperwork that needs to be finished." I stood up and headed out of the kitchen, stopping at the door to speak two words. "Goodnight, Magneto."

He chuckled. "Goodnight, Astrid."

* * *

**++++++ I thought I'd have my readers cast a vote on who they would like Astrid to develop a relationship with. originally I had thought Loki but to be honest there are far too many Loki/OC fics out there, or Steve/OC. I'm open for suggestions even if your suggestions are that she doesn't need a relationship, maybe a fling or two. Like I said, I'm open for suggestions so PM me or just stick your answers on the reviews page ++++++**


	16. X-Men First Class Part 5

**++++++ I decided to go with a series of flings for Astrid. And it's not going to be gender specific either. When you live as long as Astrid then your tastes don't exactly fall on men ++++++**

**++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to my OC ++++++**

**X-Men First Class Part 5**

I guess you could say my basic function in all this was to provide intelligence and teach the kids self-defence. It was interesting to watch them trying to hone their abilities, reminding me of when I was a child and spent years practicing mine. I wasn't sure how long they had to train their abilities but I feared that it wasn't long enough.

"Raven, focus on your hand movements," I ordered, coming up behind her to fix her stance.

"This is pointless," the blue skinned shifter objected. "What are we even doing anyway?"

"It's called Krav Maga," Eric answered. None of us hadn't noticed that we were being watched by Charles, Eric and Moira. "Combat primarily used by the Israel Defence Force. How did you learn it?"

"I have a friend in the IDF," I answered, stepping away from Raven. I stepped backwards and stopped between Charles and Eric. "They're not ready," I whispered. "A week isn't enough time. The three of us had years to hone our skills but they haven't." I folded my arms, overcome with the want to have Steve here. He wasn't a mutant but he was his own one-man army.

"I would agree with you but they have shown their promise," Charles sighed. "We haven't the years to waste training them."

I sighed. "Agreed." I rubbed my temples, feeling a headache coming on. "I'm calling it!" I cleared my throat to catch their attention. "Go on, you've got other classes to go to and I need to run a couple of laps."

"Want a running partner?" Eric asked me.

I raised an eyebrow and shook my head. "No thanks, Magneto. I'm a big girl, I can run around on my own." I left the room and started down the steps to run my laps.

* * *

By the time I made my way back to the mansion, everyone was gathered in the sitting room watching an address by President Kennedy. Personally I wasn't a fan of President Kennedy but he had put in some pretty radical changes when he took the presidency.

"What's going on?" I frowned, gasping for breath after I chugged a bottle of water.

"Kennedy's making his speech," Moira answered in a hushed tone.

"_It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile crossing the embargo line  
that surrounds Cuba as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union_."

I rolled my eyes. "The bloody embargo lines again."

"That's where we're gonna find Shaw," Eric declared.

"How do you know?" Alex asked him, unsure of Eric's statement.

"Two super powers facing off, and he wants to start world war three," Charles nodded in agreement. "He won't leave anything to chance."

"So much for diplomacy," Eric smirked. He turned to the kids. "I suggest you all get a good night's sleep."

I rubbed my temples again. "This is getting annoyingly frustrating. Sometimes I wish I could crawl into a hole and go back to Asgard. I'm going to have a shower."

"Want some company?" Eric asked me as we left the room.

I chuckled. "You couldn't handle me, Magneto. You're little magnet tricks are nothing compared to my tricks. I'm a little out of your league."

"And what league is that?" Eric asked. "We live in a world where humans constantly think they're better than us. You're one of us and yet you think you're better than us."

I laughed. "I'm not one of you. I'm not a mutant. And besides, you were making eyes at Raven earlier. I totally saw you." Things used to be so much simpler. I was certainly lonely and I missed Bucky immensely. He was the first person to accept me for me.

_I smiled and leant up against his shoulder. "Say Bucky…what are you going to do when this is over?"_

_"Marry you I imagine," he shrugged. _

_I raised an eyebrow. "You're making fun of me."_

_Bucky laughed and cupped my face in his hands. "Me? Never…" He leant down and gently kissed me. "I'm still gonna take you dancing."_

_I blushed. "I'm not objecting to that."_

_Steve suddenly cleared his throat and we jumped away like we'd be caught with our hand in the cookie jar. "Am I going to need to chaperone you two?" he inquired sternly. _

_Bucky and I looked at each other and smirked. "No!"_

"But you're still fighting for us," Eric pointed out. He crossed his arms. "There's something about you, Astrid."

"You say electrifying and I will break something," I chuckled. "Eric-I don't honestly think I'm better than you but when you don't age and have to watch everyone you love age-Howard-Peggy-Maria-Phillips-I don't get involved with people anymore. I have flings, sure but right now isn't the time to run around like a love-sick teenager. I'm going to have my shower-alone."

"If you change your mind," Eric smiled.

"Trust me," I replied, "I won't."

I carried on upstairs and got ready for my shower.

As the warm water ran over me, cleansing my body of the day's activities I found myself sinking further and further back into my past.

_"Hey Astrid," Bucky smiled, "when we get back-I don't want to do what we're doing anymore. This backwards and forwards." I paused. Why on earth would he be smiling about something like that? "I'm going to take you on a proper date, no interruptions," he told me. "Then when I ask you to go steady with me-you're gonna say yes."_

_I raised an eyebrow. "What's steady mean?" I asked him. _

_Everyone stared at me. By now each of them knew that I wasn't human, they knew I came from a place called Asgard like in the Norse myths of this world, they knew pretty much everything. They had been weary at first but Steve and Bucky were quick to jump to my defence. In fact, they were weary still now but they were accepting more than anything. _

_"It's questions like that that really make it obvious you ain't human," Jim pointed out. _

_The rest of the boys laughed. _

_"Come on, Miss Ellis," Timothy groaned, slugging his rifle over his shoulder. "We better start the track down if we're going to meet them in time."_

_I grabbed Steve's arm. "Seriously, Steve," I whispered. "What's steady mean?"_

_Steve looked at me and smiled. "It means date. As in serious dating."_

_I stared at him. "Human customs are weird."_

_"You're customs ain't much better!" Jim laughed. _

_I grabbed Bucky's hand and kissed him. "Come back, soldier because my answer is yes."_

* * *

I didn't so much as knock on Eric's door-more like stormed in, slamming the door behind me.

"Thought your answer was no?" Eric smirked, putting his book down.

"Are you going to be an ass or shall I just leave?" I asked him. I pointed to the door. "Cause I can."

"I wouldn't dream of it," he grinned, getting to his feet.

"Cocky son of a bitch," I murmured, pulling my shirt off.

Personally I couldn't help but laugh at myself.


	17. X-Men First Class Part 6

**++++++ Okay so I want my readers vote of what kind of codename Astrid should have. ****It will be her codename throughout the story like Black Widow or Hawkeye. **Howard calls her Sparky but it's more of a friendly nickname. What's your opinion? ++++++

* * *

**++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**X-Men First Class Part 6**

The following morning was like the morning of Christmas or maybe even a birthday. Everyone was on edge-myself included. As I dressed, I ran my thumb over the bite mark on my arm and laughed a little. The one last meal of a condemned woman.

I grabbed my jacket and headed out the door, twisting my hair up in a loose bun as I went. The others were already down stairs looking as nervous as I felt. "Gee, you all look as though someone's died."

Charles stared at me. "That isn't funny, Astrid."

I shrugged. "Selective audience." I turned to Eric, winking before following Charles into Hank's lab-only problem was that his lab looked as though a bomb had gone through it and Hank was nowhere in sight. "What the hell happened here?" I gasped, sifting through some of the wreckage."  
"Hank has been busy," Eric pointed out as Charles made his way over to a large silver box with a black X on the lid.

Charles opened the box and we all gathered around the box.  
"Do we really have to wear these?" Sean asked, not looking impressed by the outfits inside the box. Personally, they weren't really my taste.  
"As none of us mutated to endure extreme g-force or being riddled by bullets, I suggest we suit up," Charles replied.

"That's not my colour," I objected with a grin on my face.

Charles closed the box. "Let's get going."

"Hey we should get matching tattoos," I added, following them out to the van.

"No," Moira snapped.

"She already has three," Eric pointed out.

"Care to guess where?" I grinned, getting into the passenger seat of the van before Moira could.

* * *

When we arrived at the base air force base almost an hour later, I was shocked to find that Howard was there waiting for me in his usual suave attire and a SHIELD tech speaking to some man in a suit.

"Who is that?" Eric frowned as I pushed past him.

"Howard!" I grinned, hugging him.

"Hey, sparky," Howard grinned, returning my hug. "You missed my party-I'm terribly disappointed. Introduce me to your new pals."

"Oh, um, Howard, this is Eric Lehnsherr, Charles Xavier, Raven Darkholme, Sean Cassidy, Alex Summers and Moira MacTaggert. Guys-this is Howard Stark."

"The Howard Stark?" Charles asked me, rubbing his chin. He came up and shook Howard's hand. "It is delightful to meet you, Mr Stark. I've followed your work for some time."

I laughed. Howard had a fan. "What are you doing here, Howard?"

"I came to see the new friends you've hooked up with," Howard answered, putting his arm and my shoulder and steering me away from the group. "Also-I've put the finishing touches on your suit, instead of fighting in military fatigues."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god, I was worried I was going to have to wear that yellow and blue thing."

"Yellow makes you look like you have a disease," Howard replied, not even curbing his insult. He ran his fingers along the box he'd brought with him. "This is the perfect opportunity to test it out. The same properties your batons have are in the suit but you don't have to use the batons. It's all hands on. It's like Steve's suit, bullet proof and can withstand stabbings-well-I haven't tested it on a human subject but you heal fast don't you?"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I laughed nervously. I opened the box and lifted the suit out, it was completely black with copper coloured lines up the legs and the arms-I wasn't science smart but I think the copper was for the electricity. On the back there was a white logo of an eagle with a circle and the SHIELD initials around the circle. "This is kinda cool."

"Also standard military Colt .45," Howard continued. "Although I don't know what good it will do with Eric the Magnet."

I chuckled. "So what are you doing here with the rookie tech?" I asked.

"New kid, thought I'd tag him along," Howard grinned. "Go put the suit on. I have business to deal with. Good luck, sparky."

"Don't call me that." I grabbed the box after handing him my batons then headed off to one of the back rooms that doubled as a locker room. I stopped being shy a long time ago, so I ignored the other pilots and stripped down to my underwear. Once the suit was on, I pulled on my boots and headed back outside.

"Brings out your curves," Eric noted when he walked past.

I laughed and tied my hair back out of my face as we joined the others.

"Sparky, hey?" Alex asked me.

"Oh go jump in a lake," I growled. I looked over at Raven. "You ok?"

"Where's Hank?" Raven asked. "He wasn't at the mansion and he's not-"

"I'm here." The voice cut across the hanger like a knife through butter. He came walking into the hanger and to my shock it wasn't Hank but something…something different. His entire body was covered in blue fur all over and he had fang-like teeth, pointed ears and claws. He looked like Raven.  
"Hank?" Charles frowned, trying to take in what had happened.  
"It didn't attack the cells," Hank sighed. "It enhanced them. It didn't work."  
"Yes, it did, Hank," Raven spoke up, looking proud of him. "Don't you see? This is who you were meant to be. This is you. No more hiding."  
"You never looked better, man," Eric nodded.

Hank lashed out, grabbing Eric around the throat. He lifted him off the ground and strangled him.  
"Hank!" Charles shouted.  
"Don't mock me!" Hank growled.  
"Hank, put him down immediately, please," Charles ordered. "Hank, Hank!"  
Hank put Eric down on the ground and he gasped a little.

"I wasn't!" Eric coughed.  
"Even I got to admit you look pretty badass," Alex nodded. "I think I got a new name for you." He paused. "Beast."  
You're sure you can fly this thing?  
"Of course I can," Hank nodded. "I designed it."

* * *

**++++++ I'm not one hundred percent what I can do after I finish X-Men First Class because there is such a large gap between X-Men First Class than X-Men and than Iron Man. I will definitely be doing Last Stand because I think it would be important for Astrid to be there when Charles is killed by the Dark Phoenix mainly because she was there at the beginning ++++++ **


	18. X-Men First Class Part 7

**++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**X-Men First Class Part 7**

The first thing any of us saw when we reached the embargo line were the ships.

American and Russian ships, aiming at each other with the Aral Sea, a Russian vessel, sailing on directly down the middle of the two naval forces.

"It looks pretty messy out there," Moira pointed out.

"Messy is a polite way to put it," I replied. "More like a fucking shit storm. Charles, can you see anything? Feel anything?"

Charles paused. "The crew of the Aral Sea are all dead. Shaw's been there."  
"He's still gotta be here, somewhere," I frowned. "  
"He set the ship on course for the embargo line," Charles continued.  
"If that ship crosses the line, our boys are going to blow it up," Moira told everyone. "And the war begins."  
"Let me try something," Charles frowned. He paused again and put all his focus on the ships like he was looking for something. Next thing we knew, the Russian flagship fired a missile, heading straight for our jet.

"Hank!" I shouted, grabbing a hold of Eric's hand tightly. This was the reason why I hated flying! Well it could have had something to do with the missile that only just missed us.

"Are you alright?" Eric asked me.

I yanked my hand away and brushed it off, looking back out the window to see the ship blow up. "Yeah I'm cool. Thanks, Eric. A little warning next time, Professor X."

"My apologies," he grinned. "However-I can't seem to locate Shaw. He's still down there. We need to find him now. Hank?"

"Is there anything unusual on the radar or scanners?" Hank asked.

Moira shook her head. "No. Nothing."

"Well than he must be underwater," Hank sighed. "And obviously we don't have sonar."

I looked at Sean.

"Yes we do!" Sean and Charles grinned.

I unbuckled my seat belt and went to look over at the radar beside Moira. "He has to be there somewhere." I could see the ships belonging to the Russian's and the American's as well as the Aral Sea.

"Hank, level the bloody plane!" Charles shouted as they stood around the bay doors.

I looked around at Charles, Sean and Eric who were standing there.  
"Whoa! You back right off!" Sean shouted.  
"Beast, open the bomb bay doors!" Charles yelled. "Remember!" he ordered the boy. "This is a muscle," he said, touching Sean's throat. "You control it! Now remember, you'll be in here the entire time! We'll see you soon! On my mark! Three! Two! One! Go!"

Sean jumped out the jet and dove straight into the water.

I came over to the bay doors and looked out over the water as we hovered there, waiting. "Will it work?" I asked.

Charles was silent as he searched the seas within Sean's mind.

"It has to," Eric assured me. He appeared to be incredibly focused on finding Shaw. I never did ask why Eric hated the man so much. "Shaw has to be here somewhere."

"We'll get him," I assured him. "All of them."

"Banshee has a location on Shaw!" Charles shouted. "Eric! Are you ready for this?"

"Let's find out," Eric replied. Eric held his hand out over the water as though he was searching for something. Moments later he had found what he was looking for.

The only problem was that it wasn't doing what he wanted it to.

"Remember, the point between rage and serenity," Charles reminded him.

I watched in sheer amazement as Eric started to pull a submarine out from underneath the waves. "Holy shit," I whispered. "Eric that's amazing."

Eric ignored me, keeping his concentration on the sub.

There was so much about this world that I still had to explore…once this was over I wanted to study the mutant gene and find out more. I hurried back over to Hank in the pilot's seat. "Hank, Eric has the sub, we need to put her down somewhere."

Hank studied the layout in front of him and nodded towards a small island in front of us. "That's perfect."

I went back to Eric and Charles. "Eric, you have to hold it for another couple minutes, we've found somewhere to drop the sub. Just hold on!" I felt so useless in this jet, I couldn't do anything. I was as useless as a baby.

"Oh my god!"

I glanced out the window just in time to see one of Shaw's mutants aiming his tornados right at us. "Oh my god doesn't cut it!" I gasped, rushing to grab hold of something.

"Erik, take my hand!" Charles shouted.  
"Hold on, guys. It's gonna get bumpy," Hank warned us, the jet shifting suddenly to the left.  
"Erik, take my hand!" Charles shouted again.

Alarms started ringing throughout the jet alerting us to the fact that we were going to crash. I lost grip of the seat belt I was holding and was sent flying through the jet. Charles reached out for me and we just missed each other before I fell through the open bay doors.

I hit the water hard and sank before getting my wits about me. I swam to the surface and watched from the water as the sub and the jet both crashed on the beach. I started swimming to the beach, pausing once or twice to catch my breath and continuing on. I came to the beach just as Eric, Alex and Hank came out of the remains of the jet. "Hey!" I shouted, running after them. "Is everyone alright?"

Eric nodded. "Shaw's in there!" he declared, pointing at the destroyed sub.

"I'm coming with you!" I answered, following the three of them.

"Stay here!" Eric ordered.

I laughed. "I'm a two hundred and nine year old Asgardian. I think you'll find the answer is no. I'm coming with you! This is my home that they're threatening! Not just yours!

Eric stopped and stared at me. "Fine. Do as you like." The two of us made our way into the damaged submarine, leaving Hank and Alex outside. Eric seemed to know where he was going, leading the way like he'd been there before.

"Is Charles talking to you?" I finally asked him.

"Charles says hello, Astrid," Eric replied.

I chuckled. When we reached the control room, Eric pulled down the leaver to the nuclear reactor. I wasn't a fan of nuclear energy, Howard was studying it in great depth but all of us at SHIELD had been shocked when the US government decided to bomb the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945. I remember the phone call from Peggy asking if I'd heard the news and when I turned the TV on-it was all over the news.

We carried on through the sub, Eric determined more than ever to find Shaw. Once we found his office, Eric groaned in frustration. "He's not here, Charles! Shaw's not here! He's left the sub!"

I paused. No, that's not possible. No one has seen him.

"There's nowhere else he can be!" Eric shouted.

He was arguing with Charles.

"And I'm telling you he's not!" he snapped. "there's no one here, god damn it!"

Then suddenly…

"Eric!"

Shaw.

We turned.

Shaw was standing there in some kind of secret room behind his office.

"What a pleasant surprise," Shaw grinned.

Eric walked towards Shaw, stepping into the room before the door closed in front of me.

"Son of a bitch!" I hissed. I slammed my fists against the door and it wouldn't budge. There had to be something around here that opened the door. Closing my eyes, I opened up my mind and started searching for Charles. "Charles?" I called out.

_Hello, Astrid_, Charles replied, seeming surprised he could read my mind. _My, it's a wonderful place in here. Very ordered, very pretty…is that Asgard?_

"Charles focus!" I snapped, frustrated. "Eric stepped into some kind of room and Shaw shut the door. There has to be a button or some other way to get in there. Can you read Angel or Azazel's minds and find out how?"

_I won't be a moment_, he replied.

"I'll keep my mind open," I informed him as he left my mind. I carried on searching through the office until I found a small box on the edge of the desk that wouldn't move. I opened the box to find a button inside. "Well, that's pretty cool. Charles, I found it," I told him before I opened the door to the void.

The moment I crossed the threshold, Eric flung a metal beam at me, pinning me against the wall before slamming the door closed beside me.

"Eric!" I shouted. "Let me go!" I tried to push the beam off but stopped when I saw Shaw in the middle of the room. "What's going on?" I gasped.

Eric turned away from me. He was wearing that ridiculous helmet that Shaw had been wearing when he killed Darwin. "Shaw…if you're in there, I'd like you to know that I agree with every word you said. We are the future, but, you killed my mother." He held up his hand and a silver coin floated up in the air. "This is what we're going to do. I'm going to count to three and I'm going to move the coin."

"Eric no!" I pleaded when I realised what he was going to do. "Eric, no! You can't do this!"

"One."

The coin started to float towards Shaw.

"Eric! Charles! Stop him!"

_I can't. Not whilst he has that helmet on._

"Two!"

It continued making its way towards the frozen man.

"Eric!" I shouted, struggling against the beam.

"Three."

I cringed and closed my eyes, only opening them when I heard a sickening squelch and the coin came out the other side of Shaw's head. "Eric…what have you done?"


	19. X-Men First Class Part 8

**++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**X-Men First Class Part 8**

"Eric…what have you done?" I gasped. I looked at Shaw's body and to Eric feeling sick. "Eric…this isn't you."

Eric stared at me. "This is me, Shaw was right. Now that the threat is gone, we're expendable. Just you wait."

The beam dropped down and I hit the floor with a thud. "We're not expendable."

Eric lifted Shaw's body and broke open the wall of the sub. I watched him leave he sub with Shaw and called out to Charles. _I'm going to try for the helmet!_

_Astrid-_

I closed him out and took a running leap at Eric, the two of us landed in the sand and I immediately reached for his helmet only to be thrown off him. "Son of a bitch!" I hissed, rolling over in the sand.

"Astrid!" Moira helped me get to my feet. "Are you alright?"

"Getting old," I grumbled with a slight smile.

Eric got to his feet, shooting me a glare. "Today our fighting stops!"

We were all there, Shaw's mutants and us.

"Take off your blinders, brothers and sisters. The real enemy is out there." He waved at the water and the American and Soviet ships. "I feel their guns moving in the water. Their metal, targeting us. American, Soviets, humans. United in their fear of the unknown. The Neanderthal is running scared, my fellow mutants." He turned to Charles. "Go ahead. Tell me I'm wrong."

Charles paused before he turned to Moira and shook his head, sending her running towards the jet. We watched in horror as the missiles from the ships were launched at us. Moments before they hit the beach, Eric flung his hand out, forcing the missiles from hitting us before he turned them around.

"Eric! You said yourself, we're the better men," Charles argued, "This is the time to prove it. There are thousands of men on those ships. Good, honest, innocent men! They're just following orders."

"I've been at the mercy of men just following orders," Eric scowled. "Never again!" He released the missiles, sending them back towards the ships.

I flung my hands out, sending a wave of electricity out towards the missiles, trying to short them out. Managing to get a couple, I set off a chain reaction, blowing some more up. Eric and Charles were fighting each other on the beach, causing him to lose his concentration, making more missiles blow up. Eric flung Charles off him, keeping him high enough off the ground so he wasn't any trouble.

"Eric!" Moira shouted. She raised her gun and fired, Eric deflected the bullets, dropping Charles until one of them hit Charles in the back as he tried to get up.

Charles screamed and fell to the ground. Eric immediately pulled the bullet out as he cradled him. "I'm so sorry!" We started to make our way towards the two but Eric glared at us. "I said back off!" He looked at Moira, "you! You did this!" He raised his hand and started to choke Moira with her dog tags.

"Please!" Charles groaned. "She didn't do this, Eric. You did."

"Us turning on each other!" Eric spat. "It's what they want. I tried to warn you, Charles. I want you by my side. We're brothers, you and I. All of us, together. Protecting each other. We want the same thing."

Charles groaned and shook his head. "My friend, I'm sorry, but we do not."

Eric got to his feet and turned to the others. "The society won't accept us. We form our own. The humans have played their hand. Now we get ready to play ours. Who's with me? No more hiding."

Raven stepped forward, it looked like she was going to join Eric but came over to Charles and Moira.

Charles looked at her. "You…you should do with him. It's what you want."

Raven smiled softly. "You promised me you would never read my mind."

Charles laughed weakly. "I know. I promised you a great many things, I'm afraid. I'm sorry." He took Raven's hand and kissed it, she kissed his forehead.

Raven looked at Moira. "Take care of me." She stood up and walked over to Eric and his new brotherhood. "Beast?" she called out.

Hank looked at Raven sadly. "Never forget, mutant and proud!"

I snorted a little.

"Astrid," Eric spoke, "I have a name for you."

I raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Surge," Eric replied.

Then they vanished.

"Surge…" I mulled as I knelt down beside Charles. "Charles…are you alright?"

"Don't move, okay?" Hank ordered, checking Charles over.

"I won't," Charles replied. "Actually…I…I…I can't feel my legs."

"What?" Moira gasped.

"I can't feel my legs!" Charles gasped. "I can't feel my legs!"

I got to my feet and ran over to the wreckage of the ship to look for the radio equipment. There had to be a SHIELD submarine in the area somewhere. I grabbed the headset and turned it on. "Hello? Hello? This is SHIELD agent Astrid Ellis, ID 03P19Q3, calling any SHIELD vessels out there…anyone? Hello?"

There was nothing but white noise on the other end of the radio.

"I repeat, this is SHIELD agent Astrid Ellis, ID 03P19Q3, calling any SHIELD vessels out there," I said again. "Hello?

Nothing. Just more white noise.

I groaned and just as I went to throw the headset down there was a noise on the other end.

"_Agent Ellis…this is Echo-Charlie 08 responding to your call_."

I grinned and proceeded to give them our location, adding that we had an injured man on the island and would need a medic. I came out of the wreckage of the jet after scavenging around for the first aid kit and ran over to Moira. "We've a sub inbound from SHIELD. ETA is thirty minutes."

Moira smiled weakly. "Thank you, Astrid."

"Least I can do," I replied. I handed her the first aid kit and between the five of us we started trying to figure out a way to make Charles comfortable.


	20. X-Men First Class - The End

**++++++ I do not own Marvel or any affiliated characters apart from my OC. All rights belong to Stan Lee ++++++**

**X-Men First Class – The End**

As I sat in the library in Charles home, I looked out the window to discover Charles and Moira taking a walk. It had been about a week since we had returned from the beach incident and I had to admit that Charles was taking the fact that he was unable to walk again rather well.

Between Charles and Moira, the two of them had discussed opening a school for gifted children or children with the mutant gene. Over dinner last night, Charles had offered me a spot as a history teacher if I was willing to stay. I told him I would think about it but I was rather heart set on staying with SHIELD.

"Hey Astrid," Hank smiled as he shuffled into the room.

I looked to Hank with a smile. "Hey, Hank."

"What are they doing?" Hank asked me, sitting down beside me on the couch. He nodded at Charles and Moira. "He seems to be dealing with this well enough."

"Talking," I answered. "Charles said he was going to have to mess with her memory so the feds can't get the schools location out of Moira." I sat the book down and tucked my legs up underneath me. "What are you going to do now?" I asked him. "You gonna stay here and help the school along Hank?"

Hank nodded. "I've been thinking about it. I can't really go back to the CIA looking like this."

I looked him up and down with a chuckle. "I could talk to Howard, look at getting you a job at SHIELD. A mind like yours is a valued think, Hank. Despite the fact you're all blue and furry."

Hank shook his head. "I think I'll stay here for a bit."

I rubbed his arm. "Is it because Raven's gone?"

He sighed. "Maybe…look…you can't say anything to Alex or Sean."

I held up my hand. "Scouts honour, Hank."

We sat there for the rest of the morning talking about everything that had happened in the past few weeks. We talked briefly about how Eric and his brotherhood had broken into the CIA to break out Shaw's telepath only to be interrupted by Charles.

"Hank, I hate to interrupt but I need a word with Astrid," Charles smiled.

"Later Hank," I waved.

Charles rolled his chair in and stopped in front of me. "Moira's gone."

"You did it?" I breathed.

He nodded. "It's for the best. Now, I imagine you wouldn't tell anyone where we are."

I shook my head. "No. Not in a million years, Charles."

"Did you think about my offer?" he asked me.

I shrugged. "I'm still thinking about it. To be honest, all I have in my life is SHIELD-"

"And the gems," Charles cut me off. When he saw the look on my face he laughed. "I've read your mind, Astrid. I know about the Infinity Gems and the Gauntlet. I know pretty much everything. I know that the organisation that you work for has the Tesseract or the Space Gem-so what if I tell you that when I first met with the CIA there was a man there called William Stryker-there were several things I was able to peal from his mind and something about a round blue gem was one of them. He'd heard legends about the gem and its ability to control minds. I understand that your reality is in fact out legends. Now one of your gems is called the Mind Gem isn't it?"

I nodded. "Did you get a location?"

Charles shook his head. "No. I am afraid I did not. However, at least you now know that this gem is on earth somewhere."

I paused. Two Infinity Gems in the same place at once is a really bad idea. Unless of course you are have the gauntlet of if you're like me. I ran a hand through my hair and stood up. "I have to speak with Howard but I think I can manage six months here and six months at SHIELD until I figure something out. Thanks for your help, Charles." I leant in and kissed him on the head. "You have my number."

I sat the book down and readied myself to leave.

* * *

"Lucy I'm back!" I shouted, walking into the open garage of Howard and Maria's. I dumped my bag on the floor and looked over the various mechanical parts that were lying about. "Howard you messy boy," I chuckled.

"He certainly is," Maria grinned as she stood in the side door. "Come in, Howard's in his study."

"Thanks Maria," I grinned. I followed her to Howard's study and made myself at home in front of his desk, kicking my feet up on the oak wood desk. "Thanks for that suit, Howard. Worked like a charm, might need some repairs though."

Howard put his pen down with a chuckle. "Why doesn't that surprise me? You're a walking disaster."

I yawned a little. "I need to get all the information we have on a military guy called William Stryker."

"Why?" Howard frowned.

"The Gems," I answered. "The Infinity Gems. Stryker has a lead up one on of the Gems but I don't know where."

Howard sighed. "So we're back to the gems again. Ok, sure. I'll talk to Peggy, get her to put a call in and see what we can get."

"Thanks, Howard," I smiled. "So…Charles offered me a job," I told him, changing the subject.

"At the school he's starting up?" Howard chuckled.

"I figured since SHIELD doesn't need me at the moment I would help Charles set it up," I shrugged. "That's if it's not a problem."

"Can't see why not," Howard replied. "I mean, being amongst people of like-minded abilities probably makes me feel like you're amongst friends….dare I say maybe even family?"

I shook my head. "You and Maria and Peggy are my family."

"Family's extend, grow larger," Howard shrugged. "I have a life outside SHIELD…I'm think of going public with Stark Industries. I even have a title for it. The Stark World Expo."

"You have such a big head," I laughed.

"Drink?" Howard asked, opening his desk drawer and pulling out a bottle of whisky.

"Twist my arm," I grinned. "Oh, by the way, I have a new codename."

Howard raised an eyebrow as he poured out the whiskey into two glasses. "What's that?"

"Surge," I chuckled.

There was a smile on my face but all I was really thinking about was the future.

* * *

**++++++ So that was the end of X-Men First Class. Please, don't be shy to tell me what you think and please don't be shy to suggest where I should go next ++++++**


End file.
